


Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls

by sometimesiwritespn



Series: Multi-Chapter Stories [7]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Abuse, Additional Warnings Apply, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Comforting Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Domestic Fluff, Domestic Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Graphic Depictions of Abuse, Graphic Description, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Retribution, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Hatred, Worried Eddie Diaz, domestic abuse, graphic depiction of violence, revival
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-18 11:13:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 23,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29117313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sometimesiwritespn/pseuds/sometimesiwritespn
Summary: You didn’t see the two men standing up exchange a glance with each other when they saw how Eddie was treating you. Instead you met Eddie’s gaze. “Just relax. We’re gonna take care of you and get you to the hospital.”You were silent for a moment, before you shook your head. “Dying.” You mumbled. “There’s no point.” Each word took you longer than normal to say, as you tried to breathe through the blood still pooling in your mouth. “Don’t have money, don’t have insurance, don’t have anywhere to go, don’t have anyone left.”Eddie’s eyes hardened as he heard your words, and he shook his head. “You listen to me.” He said quietly, voice firm. “The no money, no insurance, that doesn’t matter. That’s all going to work out, trust me. As for somewhere to go, or someone to go to... you have me.”In which the reader’s abusive boyfriend tries to kill her, the 118 responds... and Eddie falls head over heels for a patient.
Relationships: Athena Grant/Bobby Nash, Eddie Diaz & Reader, Eddie Diaz & You, Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)/Reader, Eddie Diaz/Reader, Henrietta "Hen" Wilson/Karen Wilson, Maddie Buckley/Howie "Chimney" Han, Past Eddie Diaz/Shannon Diaz
Series: Multi-Chapter Stories [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1039349
Comments: 9
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thought I’d try my hand out at the 9-1-1 fandom because my writing muse has been ON FIRE for the show lately. Hope you guys don’t mind since this has historically been a Supernatural Ao3 (and I will still continue writing for SPN!) but since I had the muse, I wanted to write.
> 
> Also, there’s not a lot of Eddie Diaz/Reader fanfiction out there, and I needed it in my life.
> 
> Please let me know if you like it! I’ve got multiple chapters written already that I’m planning to post once a week, but comments & kudos keep me going <3

_What’s your emergency?_

The first type of emergency is the kind you have every single day. The kind of emergency that’s urgent only in your brain. Your daily emergency? Your boyfriend, Brad, who you’d thought was the love of your life, getting more and more mean to you. Your daily emergency was trying to figure out how to walk on eggshells, how to tiptoe around him and try to make sure he didn’t get mad. 

The second type of emergency is the one you never want to have. The one that comes on suddenly. The car accident, the fire, the heart attack... the kitchen knife Brad was currently standing over you with, with a sneer on his face so wicked you weren’t sure it was even the same person you’d fallen in love with. 

“Brad, please.” You whispered quietly, not trusting yourself to speak any louder without your voice cracking. “Please don’t do this. I’ll be better, I swear.”

“ _I’ll be better, I swear._ ” Brad mocked you as he slowly lowered himself down closer to you. “That’s why you have all these bruises, huh? Because you’re _working_ on being better?” 

You had never thought you’d end up here. Hell, you’d always judged women (or men) who stayed in abusive relationships. You never understood why they didn’t get out before it got this bad, but now you understood. It was like it wasn’t real. You didn’t want to believe it was real. You also had nowhere to go — your family weren’t speaking to you after Brad had pissed all of them off, and besides, Brad had all of your money anyway. You didn’t have a job, you didn’t have a way to support yourself even if you did try to run. You were stuck.

This was your emergency.

Searing pain shot through your side, and a gasp was torn from your throat before you realized it. You looked down at your side where the knife was, then looked up at Brad with wide eyes. His blue eyes were also startlingly wide, but what you noticed most was the devilishly wide grin on his face. Like he couldn’t believe he’d just done it either... but now he had the courage, and knew he had the strength.

“Please don’t.” Was all you managed to say before he removed the knife and started to stab you with more renewed vigor, and you knew this was it. You were going to die today. 

You woke slowly, and at first there was no pain. Confused as to why you were on the floor, you went to sit up, and that was when the first shot of pain ripped through your entire body. Eyes wide, you looked down at yourself, and saw blood. So much blood. “Oh god.” You whispered, and it all came crashing back to you. What had happened. And Brad was nowhere to be found. 

Breathing heavily with exertion even just to move your arm, you slowly reached in your pocket and grabbed your phone, and dialed the three numbers everyone in the United States knows but prays they never have to use — 9-1-1. 

“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” A female voice picked up the phone, and you started crying with relief. At least someone would find you, at least you wouldn’t just rot on the hardwood floor of your kitchen. 

“The Griffin on Spring apartment building in Los Angeles, apartment 3412.” You finally managed to say between a few heavy breaths. “I — I need an ambulance, I’ve been stabbed.” 

The woman repeated the apartment building back to you, and you confirmed it. “Okay, what’s your name?”

You sniffled. “(Y/N). (Y/F/N) (Y/L/N).” 

“Okay, (Y/N), I’m Maddie. You say you were stabbed, where were you stabbed? Your stomach?” Maddie asked, and you could hear typing. 

“Uh... yeah. All — all over my torso.” There was a pause on the other end of the phone, and you could tell it was in surprise. “There’s a lot of them.”

Maddie bit her lip. “Help is on the way.” She reassured you. “Who stabbed you? Are they still there?”

You took a moment to answer, not wanting to admit it out loud. Maddie could hear the pain in your voice as you finally answered, “M-my boyfriend, Brad Walters. I don’t think he’s still here.” 

Maddie’s heart dropped. After being in an abusive relationship herself, these calls always took a toll on her. She could feel her eyes filling with tears, but she quickly pushed them back. “It’s going to be okay, (Y/N).” She said, hoping her voice didn’t actually sound as shaky as she thought it did. “Do you have anything like a clean towel nearby you? You need to put pressure.”

A short laugh escaped you, even though nothing was funny. “Don’t have enough hands to put pressure everywhere there needs to be.” Still breathing heavily, you slowly reached a hand up to wipe your mouth, and noticed blood. “I didn’t — I didn’t think it was going to end like this.” You whispered, voice shaking. “That I was going to die because of him.”

Maddie’s tone got firmer and stricter. “You are _not_ going to die because of him. You cannot let him win, okay? Help is on the way, the ambulance is only a few minutes out. Just hang in there.” 

But your eyes were so heavy. It was as if you could feel the life draining out of you right along with the blood that was still pouring from the wounds. You could’ve sworn you said something, but when Maddie started saying your name more and more frantically, you realized you must not have. You slowly struggled to pull your eyes open. “Here.” You finally murmured, and you heard a breath of relief on the other side of the phone. 

It felt like ages, and yet like only a split second had passed, when there was a banging on your door. Whoever it was hardly waited for a response before they busted down the door, and then you saw uniformed firefighters and paramedics carrying in their gear, and one trailing behind with a gurney. 

“They’re here.” You said into the phone, and Maddie sighed with relief once again. “Thank you, Maddie.”

“You’re welcome, (Y/N).” Maddie heard you hang up the phone, and exhaling heavily, she took her earpiece off and set it on her desk. She put her head in her hands. 

Maddie started when she felt a hand on her shoulder, and she quickly turned only to find Sue, a sad smile on her face. “You okay?”

Maddie sighed and nodded. “Yeah, I will be. Just... another domestic abuse victim. Her boyfriend. He stabbed her, left her for dead.”

Sue sighed. “Bet that hit pretty close to home.” She squeezed Maddie’s shoulder when Maddie nodded in agreement. “But she’s with the paramedics now, and hopefully she’ll be okay. You did your job well today so far, Maddie. Now we just have to keep it up.”

Maddie smiled lightly. “You’re right. I think I’m going to take a break, but then I’ll get back into it.”

“Good idea.” Sue smiled in return. “Take care of yourself.” 

—————————

* _Your Apartment_ *

“(Y/N)?” A male voice said, and you slowly turned your head to see a man with dark hair, five o’clock shadow, and ... kind hazel eyes. 

When you nodded your head slightly in response to the question, the firefighter kneeled down next to you and started placing pressure on a couple of the worse wounds, while a woman started getting your vitals. “My name’s Eddie.” He said as he made eye contact with you once more. “Do you know where you are? Do you know who the president is?”

“Home.” You answered and coughed, groaning when you felt more blood coming out of your mouth. “Biden. Thank god.” 

Eddie’s mouth half lifted into a smirk, and so did the woman’s. “I like you already.” She stated as she started the machine to read your blood pressure. “I’m Hen. You’re going to be okay.” 

Three more men appeared with more supplies. The one who looked the youngest kneeled down next to Eddie to help him get dressings on the multiple wounds. “BP’s low.” Hen announced. “Pulse is weak, but hanging in there. You’re doing great.” She said the last part to you. 

You couldn’t help the tiny smile that formed in response to her, but then you looked back over to the two guys sitting next to each other. As Eddie pushed down on one wound to place pressure you cried out, and instinctively tried to curl up into the pain, which only made you cry out again.

“Whoa, whoa, hey, hey, hey.” Eddie said in a soothing tone as he motioned for Buck to take over the one he was currently doing. “You’re okay. Hen, can we get her some pain meds?” He asked, and you felt fingers gently combing through your hair. In surprise, you glanced over and saw it was Eddie’s arm outstretched, and he was trying to soothe you by stroking your hair. 

You didn’t see the two men standing up exchange a glance with each other when they saw how Eddie was treating you. Instead you met Eddie’s gaze. “Just relax. We’re gonna take care of you and get you to the hospital.”

You were silent for a moment, before you shook your head. “Dying.” You mumbled. “There’s no point.” Each word took you longer than normal to say, as you tried to breath through the blood still pooling in your mouth. “Don’t have money, don’t have insurance, don’t have anywhere to go, don’t have anyone left.”

Eddie’s eyes hardened as he heard your words, and he shook his head. “You listen to me.” He said quietly, voice firm. “The no money, no insurance, that doesn’t matter. That’s all going to work out, trust me. As for somewhere to go, or someone to go to... you have me.”

Now the rest of the team exchanged glances with each other. The man who looked to be in charge stepped forward and put a hand on Eddie’s shoulder. “C’mon Eddie, let Chim take over.”

“Nah Cap, I’m fine.” Eddie shrugged off the Captain’s hand and did scoot a bit so this ‘Chim’ could kneel down and also start working on you. 

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Eddie.” You said quietly, which made him look back at you. “You’re a firefighter. You don’t need to deal with all of my bullshit.”

About this time, a woman in a police uniform came in the door. “What do we got?” She asked the Captain, and everyone turned to look at her. 

“Stabbing victim. Boyfriend attacked her and left her for dead.” The Captain said quietly, so it didn’t disturb you further. “Name’s (Y/N).”

“(Y/N).” The woman said as she stepped over the gear toward you. “My name’s Sergeant Athena Grant.” You turned your head to look at her as she approached you, and managed a light smile. “You said your boyfriend did this to you?”

Immediately you looked away, but then looked up to your shoulder once more as you felt Eddie squeeze your shoulder gently. Meeting his gaze, he nodded, and you took a deep breath. Finally looking back at Athena, you nodded. “Yes. Brad Walters. He lives here, this is... this is his apartment.” 

Athena nodded. “Well, at least we know who it is, and we’ll be able to track him. Even if he ditches his credit cards and the like, they always slip up at some point.”

“Or he could come back.” Buck pointed out, and Chimney immediately shoved him. “What? I — oh.” He looked back down to you. “Sorry.”

“Oh my god, he could come back. He could come back once he finds out I’m alive and finish the job.” Your breathing picked up pace again, and Hen glared at Buck, who was studiously avoiding everyone’s gaze. 

“Hey, look at me.” A firm voice said, and you immediately turned to look at Eddie, eyes wide. “He’s not coming back. And even if he does, he’s not gonna finish the job. I — the police department isn’t going to let that happen. Okay? You’re going to be fine.” 

Hen stood up quickly and put her stethoscope back around her neck. “She’s as stable as she’s gonna get, and now that she’s about to hyperventilate, we gotta leave now. We have to get her to the hospital.”

In the ambulance, you kept drifting in and out of consciousness. Each time you woke, the soothing and reassuring words of the 118 were the first things you heard. “Hospital’s 5 minutes out, hang in.” You heard Hen’s voice drifting through the back from the front, and tugged your eyes open to look at the ones in the back with you.

“We’re almost there.” Eddie said reassuringly. “And I’ll come see you after my shift, okay?”

You shook your head, but immediately regretted it as it made you dizzy. “You don’t have to do that. You have a life. It’s okay.”

Eddie smiled and rolled his eyes. “I will see you after my shift.” He said firmly once again. “Just make sure you tell them that I’m allowed in when I get there.”

“I’m just saying. If you’re busy you don’t have to come.” You mumbled, and the heaviness in your eyes became too much once more as you fell into unconsciousness once again. 

—————————

* _The Firehouse_ *

“Alright, man. You wanna talk about it?” Buck approached Eddie, who was working out at the firehouse using the punching bag. 

Eddie hardly paused his workout, too focused on the task at hand. He did glance at Buck for a brief second, but then quickly started up again. “Talk about what?”

Buck rolled his eyes. “You know what. (Y/N). You’ve never acted like that with someone we saved before.”

Eddie still didn’t stop working the punching bag. “What? She was giving up, and I knew we could save her. I didn’t want her to give up, I didn’t want to lose someone when we didn’t need to.” 

“Mhm.” Buck paused, and sat down on one of the workout benches. “And you’re going to go see her after you finish your shift?”

“I promised her, didn’t I?” Eddie shrugged, still refusing to meet Buck’s eyes, and Buck noticed. 

Buck went silent for a few minutes, trying to figure out how to go about saying what he wanted to say. “Eddie, you’re my best friend. You know that, right?” He waited for the hum of confirmation before continuing. “This isn’t about Christopher, right?”

Eddie’s entire body froze and tensed. He stopped and turned to look at Buck, gaze murderous. “Excuse me? Why would this have _anything_ to do with Christopher?”

Buck shrugged. He didn’t want to piss Eddie off too much, but he was worried. “I know that ever since Shannon took him back to Texas a few weeks ago, you’ve been... off. You’ve been tense, on edge, and I’m worried about you. I’m afraid (Y/N) is... you know. An extension of this.”

—————————

* _Previously, in Eddie’s apartment in LA_ *

“No. Absolutely not.” Eddie said firmly, trying to keep his voice from getting any louder, because Shannon always said she hated it when he yelled. Besides, Christopher was upstairs sleeping, and he didn’t want to wake him up. “There’s no way I’m letting you take him back to Texas. He just moved to California a few months ago and he’s finally gotten settled in. You can’t just uproot his whole life again!”

“Oh, really? And yet a few months ago you were fine uprooting his whole life in Texas to move him out to California!” Shannon shot back angrily. “Which, by the way, you didn’t even tell me about until it was happening, thanks for that.” 

Eddie groaned. “Are we really going to have that argument again? Yes, I know, I didn’t tell you we were moving. Poor you, considering we were moving to the same state you had left to!”

“Yes, we’re having that argument again, because you think you can just make decisions about _our_ son without even consulting me!” Shannon exclaimed. “Because I was taking care of my dying mother, and you shut me out!”

“I shut you out?!” Eddie yelled, then inhaled a deep breath to at least calm himself down enough that he wouldn’t yell again. “That’s funny. Because I seem to remember calling you every day for the first year, and after a few months being lucky if I even got a call back once a week. I seem to remember begging you to get on the phone with Christopher and you blowing me off because you always had somewhere else you needed to be. I didn’t shut you out, Shannon. You left me, and then got mad when I finally decided to move on with my life.”

“Well that’s funny, because I remember you leaving me in the first place to go to Afghanistan.” Shannon shot back, even though she knew it was a touchy subject. One they tried not to bring up even in the worst fights.

Once upon a time, during one of their make-up periods, they’d had a long conversation about what they talked about while angry. “I feel like when we fight, we’re taking aim at each other’s deepest hurts. And that’s... that’s not how it’s supposed to work. It’s not you versus me, it’s supposed to be us versus the problem. We’re supposed to be fighting the problem, not fighting each other.” 

After that conversation, Afghanistan only came up when they were both calm and level headed. Eddie understood that he’d hurt Shannon by leaving her to deal with the pregnancy and with a special needs child alone, but Shannon also understood being away from her and Christopher had hurt Eddie as well. 

Eddie’s jaw clenched and he slammed his fist down on the kitchen counter. “Oh, so now we’re bringing up the military again.” He said, venom in his voice. “I see.”

Shannon was silent for a moment, at a loss for words. It had just come out before she’d even thought about it. “Eddie, I’m sorry, I didn’t —“

“No.” Eddie said quietly. “No. I get it. You’re still pissed at me for leaving you alone in Afghanistan, I get it. You wanna use it against me whenever we have an argument, fine. I can’t change the past. But you don’t get to take your anger toward me out on our son. You don’t get to decide to just up and move him back to Texas because you’re pissed off at me for the past that I can’t change!”

“For god’s sake Eddie, I’m not taking him back to Texas because I’m pissed at you. I’m taking him back to Texas because a boy needs his mother, and he should be able to go back to his friends! You know he’s hardly made any friends since you two moved here.” Shannon put her head in her hands and leaned against the counter. 

“Yeah, because he wasn’t in a good school, but now he is! He loves that place, and it’s one of the best schools in the country!” Eddie replied. “You just need to give it a chance, he needs to be able to give it a chance. Do you know how hard it was to even get that interview with them?”

Shannon shook her head. “I’m sorry, Eddie. He’s coming back to Texas with me. I’ve been thinking about it for a while now, I’ve consulted a lawyer, and he said there’s a good chance I would get custody if we take it to court, because they usually rule in favor of the mother. And yes, I told them my track record, and my lawyer still thinks I’d win.” She took a breath and looked back up at Eddie. “I will take this to court if I have to, Eddie, but I don’t want to.”

“Mom? Dad?” Both heads whirled around as they heard a little voice. Eddie sighed quietly and turned around to look in the doorway of Christopher’s bedroom. “What’s going on?”

Eddie forced himself to smile, and put his arm around Shannon’s waist to squeeze briefly, just for Christopher’s benefit. “Nothing, buddy. Everything’s fine. C’mon, let’s get you back to bed.” 

“We’re not done talking about this.” Eddie muttered lowly to Shannon so Christopher wouldn’t be able to hear, and went to get him settled back into bed. 

It was a whirlwind. Things happened so fast they made Eddie’s head spin. He and Shannon continued arguing about it for days. Eddie consulted a lawyer, who agreed that Shannon would likely be the one to get custody. They continued arguing about it until Shannon finally told Eddie he either had to let her take him, or she was going to be filing her case to take him to court the next day.

And then three days later, his apartment was empty. The place had once been so full of life, and in a mere 72 hours, the apartment was silent and bland, how it had been when Eddie and Christopher had first moved in. But at least then he’d still had Christopher to help him pick out decorations and figure out how to liven up the place.

Once upon a time, Eddie had had a family. And now he kept trying to call Christopher and Shannon just kept using the same excuse he’d used on her all that time — that talking to him would just confuse Christopher. 

In Afghanistan, Eddie enjoyed the camaraderie of the team he worked with, and that was why he’d joined the 118. The best team in the world. The team knew that Shannon and Christopher were gone, and they knew Eddie was having a hard time adjusting, but no one knew what went on in Eddie’s head. No one knew how much he was struggling, how alone he felt.

Every night, Eddie would go home to a silent apartment. And once again, Eddie was all alone.

—————————

* _The Firehouse_ *

Eddie laughed hollowly. “Yeah, Shannon took away my entire world and I’m having a little difficulty adjusting to that. Now I’ll ask you again, how the hell is (Y/N) a part of this?”

“Well.” Buck cleared his throat. “With Christopher’s cerebral palsy, you had to pretty much devote your whole life to taking care of him.” He could see Eddie about to protest, so he held up his hand to silence him. “And I know you loved it, no doubt about that. I’m not saying there’s anything bad about that. But, you don’t have to take care of him anymore. Now you found this pretty girl who’s in the hospital because of her boyfriend, who’s going to be recovering for a long time, and I think maybe... deep down you think you could take care of her.”

Eddie scoffed. “Please. Look, I loved taking care of Christopher. He’s my son, he was my whole life. Sometimes it got hard taking care of him all the time, but I never regretted it. But now I actually have time to be a person, and learn who I am as Eddie, not just a father. The last thing I need is to have someone I have to take care of all the time.” He took a deep breath to try to calm the rage coursing through him. “I know you’re just trying to help. But just — don’t. Don’t. Okay? I’m handling this. I’m handling things.”

Buck sighed. “Alright, Eddie. I’m just saying. Don’t go chasing waterfalls, okay?”

Eddie paused at that and raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Do you actually know what that means?”

Rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, Buck chuckled. “Uh, not really. Athena said it to me the first day we met. When I told her I didn’t know what it meant, her response was, ‘nobody thought you would’, so I still haven’t figured out what it means.”

For the first time in weeks, since before Shannon had threatened to leave with Christopher, Eddie laughed so hard he cried.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Over 100 hits in a week, not bad! Glad to see some of you liking this, I would really appreciate comments & kudos! Thank you for letting me into the 9-1-1 fandom, & please be on the lookout for more soon!

* _The Hospital_ *

“Hi.” Eddie said to the receptionist sitting behind the desk, waiting until she looked up from her computer to him. “My name’s Eddie Diaz, I’m here to see (Y/F/N) (Y/L/N). Could you tell me what room she’s in please?”

Eddie assumed that because of the situation that had brought you into the hospital, they wouldn’t let him back without you giving explicit permission. But, much to his surprise, the receptionist looked you up and told him room 305 with just a few moments of waiting. “Thank you.”

He wandered through the hospital hallways. A small smile formed when he thought about how confusing hospitals were to him, despite how much time the team spent bringing victims to them. It took him a few minutes of looking, but Eddie finally came upon room 305. 

Once he double checked the room number, Eddie knocked gently on the door. “(Y/N)?” He called, but there was no response. Eddie swung the door open slowly, and went into the room.

Another smile formed when he saw you were fast asleep in the hospital bed. Because the wounds were mostly on your torso and covered by the blankets, it was almost like you weren’t injured at all. You were just sleeping peacefully. 

Eddie walked around to the other side of the bed, and instinctively leaned down to press a kiss to your forehead. He then sat down in the chair next to the bed and took your hand, rubbing his thumb over the back of it. “It’s Eddie, (Y/N).” He said quietly. “I’m right here. You just get some rest.” 

As if echoing in the back of his head, Eddie could hear Buck’s words about the situation. _”Now you found this pretty girl who’s in the hospital because of her boyfriend, who’s going to be recovering for a long time, and I think maybe... deep down you think you could take care of her.”_

No, definitely not. Buck was wrong. Sure, he was here in the hospital next to your hospital bed, but that didn’t mean he was immediately jumping back into taking care of someone. You were not a replacement for Christopher, that he sure as hell knew. No one could replace his son, no matter how much Eddie had to take care of them. 

But at the same time, why was he here? Why had he promised you all the things he did? There was something about you that had drawn Eddie to you the second he saw you laying on that kitchen floor. Despite being in the worst state of your life, despite being covered in blood and coughing up blood, something had drawn Eddie to you. Something that made him want to be protective over you, something that made him want to make sure you were okay.

After a while, a man walked in the room wearing a long white coat. Eddie quickly stood up and outstretched his hand. “Hi. I’m Eddie.”

“I’m Dr. Schmidt, nice to meet you, Eddie.” He said and shook his hand, then started checking your vitals. 

“How’s she doing?” Eddie asked, sitting back down so the doctor would have room to do whatever he needed to. 

Dr. Schmidt looked up from you and back to Eddie. “Are you family?”

Eddie paused. “No.” He said quietly. “I’m... I’m one of the first responders that was on scene when she called 9-1-1. She told me she didn’t have anybody, so I told her I’d come see her.” 

The other man watched Eddie, considering him for a moment. He knew with your history, and with why you’d come to the hospital that he needed to be careful. But this man seemed relatively safe, and didn’t look like he was going to do anything. “Off the record.” Dr. Schmidt said quietly. “Because you’re not family. But she’s doing alright. Better than anticipated for her injuries, and she obviously lost a lot of blood. But she’s stable and hanging on, so we just have to keep her there until she can become strong enough to actually recover.”

Eddie nodded and looked back down at you. “She’s strong, that’s for sure. You gotta be to get through something like that. Who knows how long her boyfriend was beating her before it got to this point?”

Dr. Schmidt also nodded in agreement. “I’d say it’s been a while. When someone comes in with these sort of injuries, it’s standard procedure to run a full body scan. That scan showed us many broken bones that got delayed medical attention, if they got any attention at all. Somehow her body mostly managed to pull off healing the bones on its own, but there are a few old injuries that she might still be suffering from.” 

Gently squeezing your hand, Eddie sighed and stroked his thumb across the back of your hand. “Well, at least she’s never going to have to deal with that again.”

“Hopefully not.” Dr. Schmidt agreed. “I have to check on other patients, but her call button is right here if she needs anything.” He pointed out the button on the side of the bed. 

“Okay. Thank you for your time.” Eddie nodded to Dr. Schmidt and watched him leave the room, then came to perch on the edge of your bed. “You poor thing.” He murmured, lightly brushing some hair away from your face. “You’re a trooper. Hell, I was in multiple tours in Afghanistan, and I think you’re probably braver than I am.” 

Eddie felt his phone vibrating in his pocket, so he sat back down in the chair, leaned back, and pulled it out to find a text from Buck. 

_Buck: How’s our mystery girl?  
Eddie: Mystery girl? What’s so mysterious about her?  
Buck: Oh, idk. Maybe just her entire life since no one knows anything about her?  
Eddie: 🙄 Shut up, Buck.   
Buck: You didn’t answer the question.  
Eddie: She’s in stable condition. Hasn’t woken up yet.   
Buck: You’re not going to stay there overnight, right? We have a shift tomorrow.  
Eddie: And? It’s not like we haven’t worked on only a few hours of sleep before.  
Buck: Eddie, you’re chasing waterfalls.  
Eddie: I’ll see you tomorrow, Buck._

Eddie rolled his eyes and put his phone back in his pocket. After having Christopher and spending so many nights in the hospital because of his cerebral palsy, he could sleep in a bedside chair no problem. He grabbed his jacket and draped it over himself like a blanket, set his alarm, and settled in for the night. 

It was very early morning when Eddie heard something. He picked his head up and winced from the pain in his neck from how he was sitting, then looked over to you. 

Eddie noticed you were stirring a little bit, your eyelids fluttering like you were trying to open them. He quickly sat up and grabbed your hand, then sat on the edge of your bed. Eddie was quiet, not wanting to disturb you, and not sure how awake you actually were. 

After a few moments of silence, Eddie heard a quiet whimper. His heart broke, and he quickly brought his free hand up to stroke through your hair. “Hey, hey. Shhh.” He said softly. “You’re okay. You’re in a hospital, you’re safe.” 

You whimpered again, and Eddie felt your hand slowly moving so you could grip onto his. He laced your fingers together and squeezed your hand gently. “It’s me, Eddie.” He whispered. “I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere. If you need to keep sleeping, that’s okay. Take your time.”

Eddie could tell you were fighting an internal battle with yourself, just because you kept starting to relax and then you’d start trying to force your eyes open again. He didn’t say anything else, just continued stroking your hair to try to relax you. 

Eventually, Eddie leaned forward to rest his forehead against yours. “Go back to sleep, (Y/N).” He said gently, his tone soothing. “You’re not ready. It’s okay. You’re safe, nothing’s going to happen. Just go back to sleep.”

He kept talking to you in a quiet, soothing tone, until you finally stopped fighting it and relaxed again. Eddie smiled softly and kept his forehead pressed against yours for a few minutes after you’d fallen asleep to make sure you had actually gone to sleep and weren’t about to start fighting it again.

When twenty minutes had gone by and you hadn’t moved again, Eddie knew you were actually asleep. He got up off your bed and settled back down in the chair with his jacket, and soon enough he also fell asleep once more.

Eddie woke up every so often throughout the night when medical personnel would come in to check on you. He stayed out of their way and didn’t ask questions, just listening to what they were saying to each other. It looked like you were still stable, still just resting, and your status hadn’t changed. But as Eddie always liked to say — sometimes no news was good news. 

It felt like he’d just closed his eyes the last time when his alarm was going off. Eddie groaned and fished the phone out of his pocket to turn it off, then stood up and stretched. It had been a while since he’d had to spend the night in the hospital with Christopher, and he’d forgotten just how uncomfortable those hard, plastic chairs really were. 

Rubbing a hand over his face, Eddie sat down on the edge of your bed and reached for your hand again. “I have to go get ready for work.” He said gently to you, like you would be able to respond. Eddie knew you wouldn’t, but he didn’t know if you could hear or not, and he didn’t want to just leave you. “You just keep resting and fighting your way back, okay? I’ll be back after my shift.” 

Eddie leaned forward to kiss your forehead once, then got up. He put on his jacket, took one last look at you, then exited the hospital room.

—————————

* _The Firehouse_ *

“So Eddie, you been back to see your stabbing girl yet?” Hen asked before their next shift, two days after the stabbing.

Eddie rolled his eyes. “She has a name, you know. (Y/N). So I’d appreciate it if you stopped calling her the stabbing girl.” When Hen just gave him a look, Eddie sighed. “Yes, I went after our shift got over last night, and the night of the accident. She’s... not awake yet. At least, not as far as I know.” 

“Mhm. And when did you leave? I’m assuming on both nights you didn’t just stop by, see she wasn’t awake, and leave?” Hen asked, sitting down on one of the barstools in the firehouse’s kitchen.

Eddie was quiet as he put his snacks for the shift in the fridge. He turned back, hoping Hen had let it go, but she was still staring at him, waiting for an answer. “I stayed the night, okay? Slept in the chair next to the bed, left a couple hours before my shift so I could shower and come here. Are you happy?”

Even Hen hadn’t been expecting that. “Bobby, are you hearing this?” She asked, and Eddie groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. 

“You need to be careful, Eddie.” Bobby pointed his fork at him as if to accentuate his point. “I thought you told Buck you were going to be taking time to learn about who you are not as a father and not as a soldier. What happened to that?”

“Damn, is the entire firehouse talking about me?” Eddie asked, obviously uncomfortable with the conversation. “I am taking time to learn about myself, Cap. I’m doing it in the best way I know how.”

“By falling for a domestic abuse victim who’s definitely got some PTSD and is going to be in recovery for a good long while?” Bobby asked. “There are better ways to learn about yourself, Eddie. Take a class. Learn to cook. Get a hobby, it doesn’t matter! You just don’t need to learn by taking care of someone else, that’s all I’m saying.”

“Let’s also not forget that legally you’re still married.” Chim said as he sat down at the table. “What happened is awful, but if you’re going to go around flirting with people you should probably get a divorce.”

Everybody was slowly filling in to sit at the table, and Bobby started to serve the food. It had originally smelled delicious, but now Eddie felt nauseous, and the last thing he wanted to do was eat, mostly because he was just so annoyed. “Just because I’m seeing her in the hospital doesn’t mean I’m falling for her. She doesn’t have anybody else, I’m just doing a nice thing.”

“I think saving her life was probably nice enough.” Hen said as she took her plate back from Bobby and thanked him. “Make sure you eat.”

“I’m not hungry.” Eddie grumbled as a plate of food was set in front of him as well. 

Chimney chuckled. “I’ll tell you what I told Buck when he was a few months into working here. It’s America, Eddie. Eating has nothing to do with being hungry.”

“Hey guys!” Everyone turned to see who was greeting them, and they smiled when they saw Maddie.

“Maddie!” Buck grinned as he went over to give his sister a hug. “I didn’t know you were coming for dinner.”

Chim also went up to Maddie and put his arm around her waist once Buck was done hugging her. “Yeah, Maddie’s been having a bit of a rough time after a call a couple days ago, so I invited her to join us. Hope you don’t mind.”

Bobby smiled at Maddie. “You know you’re always welcome here, whether or not you’re having a tough time struggling with a call.”

“It also helps that your boyfriend and brother both work here.” Hen teased. She got up to grab another plate for Maddie and set it down in front of the seat across from Hen. “You want to talk about it?” She asked once Maddie had sat down.

Maddie sighed. “I just feel like it shouldn’t be affecting me as much as it is, you know? It was a domestic violence victim, and as awful as it is, we get those calls a lot. I know with my marriage those calls are harder for me, but usually not this hard.” She sighed. “This one was just... different.”

Eddie had noticed the similarities immediately, but he kept his head down and instead forced himself to take a bite of the pasta Bobby made. He hoped no one would say anything.

But of course, that wasn’t to be. “A domestic violence victim?” Hen asked Maddie after she finished chewing. “What kind of domestic violence?”

“She was a stabbing victim. Her boyfriend had stabbed her and left her for dead.” Maddie’s jaw clenched instinctively. Chimney reached over to put his hand on her knee reassuringly and squeeze, and Maddie shot him a small smile. He always knew when she needed to be calmed down in just subtle, simple ways. 

“Oh no way, two days ago? That has to be Eddie’s mystery girl.” Eddie rolled his eyes when he heard Buck’s nickname for her once again, and finally looked back up to survey the table, where everyone was looking at him.

Eddie sighed. “She’s not a mystery girl, Buck.” He reminded him. “Her name is (Y/N).” 

Maddie’s eyes went wide. “Oh my god, that is the same girl. You guys were the ones that responded to it? How is she doing?” One of the things she missed about being a nurse was being able to keep tabs on patients, and see how they were doing. 

“She’s hanging in there. She’s in critical condition still, but stable. I’ve gone to the hospital the past two nights after my shift, and she hasn’t woken up yet. She’s pretty much the same as she was when she came into the hospital.” Eddie pushed the food around on his plate, hoping to make it look like he was actually eating more than just a couple bites. 

Maddie nodded. “That’s good to hear. Sometimes no news is good news.” Eddie smiled lightly and nodded his agreement. “But can I ask why you’re going and seeing her?”

“See, soldier boy over here has a hero complex, and wants to have someone he can save.” Hen smirked at Eddie then looked back at Maddie. “His home life recently changed so he doesn’t have anyone he’s taking care of, and he’s having withdrawals.”

Eddie’s fist clenched around his fork. He knew Hen was talking about it nonchalantly because she was making sure not to disclose any personal details, but he still hated how her tone of voice was. 

Buck noticed the obvious change in Eddie’s posture and cleared his throat. “Alright, alright. Why don’t we all just back off Eddie, okay? He’s doing his thing and he’s not hurting anyone in the process.”

“She could get hurt in the process if Eddie makes himself too known and then decides he doesn’t want to deal with it.” Maddie said quietly. “That was why I never dated after Doug. Until Chim, of course. But I didn’t want to become dependent on someone again, I didn’t want to think someone was going to be there for me just for them to up and leave again.”

“You sound like Shannon.” Eddie muttered so quietly only he could hear it. “I’m not leaving, okay? That’s not what I do. I don’t just leave for no reason, I do what’s best in the situation, no matter how hard it is.”

Maddie had a feeling they were no longer talking about just you, but she wasn’t going to push it. “No, no. That’s not what I mean, I don’t think you’d just leave her. It’s just... a lot to help take care of someone and help build someone up after a relationship and a tragedy like that, that’s all I’m saying.”

Before Eddie could speak again, the alarm in the firehouse went off. Everybody except for Eddie and Maddie groaned, because they wouldn’t get to finish their food, as per usual. Maddie could stick around, Eddie just didn’t want to eat. The rest of the crew shoved a couple more large bites into their mouth, and they all got loaded up. 

“What is it, Cap?” Buck asked as they grabbed their gear and got into the fire truck. 

“House fire.” Bobby responded. “Sounds like a pretty big one, too. We might be there a while.” 

Eddie climbed into his usual seat in the fire truck and stared out the window, trying to avoid anybody continuing the conversation they’d just had at the table.

Buck reached over to squeeze Eddie’s shoulder, like an apology for how overbearing everyone was being. Eddie knew it was because they were worried about him and also worried about you, but he just needed them to trust that he knew what he was doing.

Because even though Eddie might not know much about you except your name, he wasn’t planning on stepping back.

—————————

* _The Hospital_ *

The only thing you heard was beeping. You didn’t feel any pain, which was surprising, considering the last thing you remembered was pain so unbearable you could hardly breathe. 

Instead, it felt like you were floating. You couldn’t really feel anything, you realized a moment later. You couldn’t feel any pain, but you also couldn’t feel anything else. 

Until you suddenly felt a movement across the back of your hand. You weren’t sure what it was, but it was a nice feeling. It was very soothing, a steady rhythm you could focus on, and soon enough you felt darkness pulling you under once more. 

The next time you woke up, there was more pain. A sharper pain. Not unbearable, but you definitely didn’t feel great. But it only took you a few seconds to feel that constant motion again — only this time it was in your hair. 

You started to slowly pull your eyes open, but they were still so heavy. The mystery person must have noticed your eyelids fluttering, because the movement in your hair stopped and the movement on the back of your hand started again. “Take your time.” You heard a deep voice say. “There’s no rush to wake up. If you’re not ready, you’re not ready, and you can go back to sleep.”

Although it was very tempting to go back to sleep, you had to see who this person was. As far as you knew, the only person in your life was Brad... and he was no longer in your life. Brad had made you cut off all friendships earlier in the relationship, you didn’t have a job so you hadn’t made any friendships with coworkers, and you certainly hadn’t been talking to any men. 

At long last, and after a few more moments of dozing, you finally forced your eyes open. The very first thing you saw was a pair of kind hazel eyes, and he was smiling so wide you could see it in his eyes without looking at the rest of his face. 

A small smile formed to mirror his, though not as big. It took you a moment to be able to form the word, but you finally whispered, “Eddie.” 

“That’s right. You’re awake. Glad to see those eyes again.” Eddie smiled down at you and squeezed your hand. 

“Why... why are you here?” You finally asked once you found the words again. Your brain was moving slowly, and it was hard to figure out what you were thinking or what you wanted to say. “How long was I out?”

Eddie looked offended for a moment, but dropped it with a soft smile. “It’s been a couple days since you’ve been here. I had to leave for my shifts, but... I promised you I’d be here after my shift, and I have been.” 

“Wow, I — I didn’t...” You trailed off, your gaze slowly traveling down. You couldn’t see anything because you were covered up by the hospital gown and blankets, but you knew the horror that laid underneath them. Your mind immediately shifted from the conversation at hand to the wounds littered across your torso. 

As if being able to sense it, Eddie squeezed your hand to pull your train of thought back to the conversation. “You didn’t think I’d come, right?”

You nodded as you looked up to look at him again. “Yeah, I didn’t think you’d come. I figured you were just saying all that so I’d live long enough to make it to the hospital.” 

“I mean, I’m not going to lie to you. I do that sometimes.” Eddie confessed, and laughed quietly. “Make promises I don’t intend on keeping. And it probably makes me an awful person, but I like to think at least some of it is negated by the fact that it keeps the person alive and talking until I get them to the hospital.” He paused. “That being said, that wasn’t what I was doing with you. Obviously.”

“Don’t think it makes you a bad person.” You shook your head. “Like you said, it keeps the person alive and talking. Maybe gives them a little hope.” You smiled softly. “Why isn’t that what you did with me? Why were you actually promising me these things?”

Eddie was quiet for a moment, and he looked down where your hands were connected together. He watched his thumb stroke the back of your hand. “To be completely honest with you... I’m not really sure.” He chuckled quietly. “Something just drew me to you, I guess.”

“Yeah, the poor girl that pissed her boyfriend off enough that she got stabbed by him. Super sexy.” You muttered, also looking down where Eddie was holding your hand. 

“Ah, ah. Don’t do that.” Eddie shook his head. “What he did to you, that is not on you. It doesn’t matter what you did or didn’t do, or how mad you made him. Any self respecting man, any decent human being, would not lay a hand on their significant other. This isn’t your fault, (Y/N).”

You sighed. One part of you wanted to believe Eddie. But the other part knew that if you’d just been better, if you’d just worked a little harder, maybe Brad wouldn’t have been so hard on you. Maybe you wouldn’t have ended up in this hospital bed.

But at the same time... maybe it was a good thing you’d ended up in this hospital bed. You were going to be traumatized from the whole experience for a long time, that much was clear. But you might’ve gotten something good out of it. Brad was gone, so that was good. 

There was also an extremely attractive firefighter who’d apparently been coming after all his shifts to wait until you woke up. One who looked at you like you were the only thing that mattered right then. You still didn’t understand it, but it was happening.

Before you knew it, you could feel yourself getting emotional. You held back the tears, but your breath caught in your throat, and Eddie must have heard it. “Hey...” He said softly, and even just the tone made you burst into tears. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” You said quickly as you started to wipe your eyes. “God, I’m being ridiculous.” 

Eddie reached out to gently wipe your eyes instead, seeing you were being a little rough on yourself. He noticed you instinctively leaned into the touch, and for a second you thought his eyes flickered with interest, but it was immediately gone. “You’re not being ridiculous. You’ve had a few days that have been traumatizing as all hell. It’s okay to be emotional.”

You sniffled and nodded, your eyes falling shut as you just sat there with Eddie. “I still don’t really know why you chose to be here...” You trailed off for so long Eddie was actually about to respond, when you finally said, “But I’m glad you are.” 

Eddie smiled. “Me too. Me too, (Y/N).”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this was supposed to be posted yesterday, whoops. But we got another 100 views in a week, so that’s exciting! I hope you guys are liking it. Comments & kudos feed the muse! <3

* _The Hospital_ *

After you’d woken up a little bit, Eddie hit your call button to call the nurse in. Nurses and doctors had come in to check your vitals, and they all said everything was looking pretty good, all things considered. It wasn’t long before they’d left you alone with Eddie once again. 

You and Eddie spent a while together. Eddie did most of the talking after you asked about some of his favorite stories from his job. He only told the good ones, but he told stories from his tours in Afghanistan, as well as stories from working with the 118, the team that had saved you. 

You learned the Captain’s name was Bobby, the other young man that was placing pressure on your wounds went by Buck, the Asian man was Chimney, he reminded you the black woman was Henrietta (but god forbid you ever call her that), and the 9-1-1 dispatcher Maddie you had talked to was Buck’s sister. 

By the time he was finishing up telling you stories about the 118, you felt like you knew them. Eddie didn’t really tell you anything about his home life, but then again, you hadn’t asked about it. You’d asked about work stories. So you didn’t think too much into it, aside from the time he had mentioned someone named Christopher, and then immediately shut down. You’d asked who he was, but he’d just shut back down again, so you quickly learned not to ask anything about it. 

“Do you think you’re gonna be okay alone for a few minutes?” Eddie asked when there was finally a lull in the conversation. “I was up all night working a shift, I just thought I’d grab a cup of coffee.” 

You nodded. “Yeah, of course. I’m sorry, I didn’t even think about it, you must be exhausted. You can go home, you know. You don’t have to stay here with me.”

Eddie smiled and shook his head. “Nah, I’m good, really. I’ll just get a little caffeine and I’ll be good as new. I’ll be right back, okay? Don’t go anywhere.” 

You laughed quietly, nodding. “Yeah, wasn’t planning on it. Take your time.”

Eddie smiled again. “Alright.” He squeezed your hand and got up to walk out of the hospital room. He took a trip down to the cafeteria and got a cup of coffee, along with a couple bags of chips. He didn’t know what you would like, or if you were even allowed to eat, but he wanted to get you something just in case. 

Eddie was relieved you were finally awake. The time had started feeling like it was hardly passing, him just hoping you would wake up soon. He couldn’t explain it, but he felt like he was on top of the world, just because you’d finally opened your eyes again. Everything was finally becoming right in the world once more — because you had won. You hadn’t let Brad win.

New purchases in hand, Eddie made his way back up to your floor. He stopped for a moment to talk to a nurse, but immediately stopped when he heard something. Screaming. You were screaming. 

Without a conscious thought, the coffee and bags of chips dropped out of Eddie’s hand onto the floor while he sprinted toward your room. “(Y/N)?!” 

When Eddie rounded the corner, he was met with a sight he had never wanted to see. There was a man towering over your bed, and you were screaming, trying to get away from him even though you could hardly move. 

“You have a stabbing victim here who’s assailant wasn’t caught and you have no goddamn security?!” Eddie yelled to no one in particular, but he was mostly mad at himself. Mad at himself for leaving you alone, mad that he somehow hadn’t even noticed that there was no security waiting outside your door. “Someone call 9-1-1!”

Without another word, Eddie rushed into your room. “Hey, jackass!” He yelled. The insult surprised Brad enough that he paused for just a split second, but it was enough time for Eddie to launch himself at him, and then the fight began.

Eddie managed to land the first punch, but he was blindsided by a punch that landed right at his throat. The wind got knocked out of him and paralyzed him just long enough that Brad rolled them over and Eddie found himself on the floor. “Who the hell are you?!” Brad asked, his hands closing around Eddie’s throat. 

“Eddie, no!” You screamed, and even though it hurt more than you could bear, you practically threw yourself to the end of the bed. “Brad, don’t! You want to hurt me, you don’t want to hurt him!”

“This must be who you’ve been cheating on me with!” Brad yelled back, squeezing Eddie’s neck tighter. Eddie’s hands came up to grab Brad’s wrists, trying to pull him away.

You scoffed. “You didn’t let me talk to anyone Brad! How the hell was I supposed to cheat on you with anyone?!” 

Eddie managed to roll them back over when you distracted Brad. He knocked Brad’s hands away from his neck, and filled with rage, he just started punching. 

You watched the fight, horrified, even though it looked like Eddie was winning. Everything hurt, you were pretty sure you were bleeding, but none of that mattered. Only the scene unfolding in front of you mattered. “Eddie, please. Please...”

“Get back in bed.” Eddie told you quietly, his voice calm, and you did. Eddie didn’t realize Brad was reaching for something until he grabbed the bedside table, which sent the vase of flowers crashing down. 

Brad managed to catch it with one hand, and before Eddie could do anything, Brad had smashed it over his head. You screamed again, screaming for security, screaming for someone to help.

Brad slowly shoved the now unconscious Eddie off of him, and stalked back over to your bed. You tried to crawl to the other corner of the bed, tried to crawl out of the bed, tried to get as far away from him as you could. When you got to the edge of the bed you fell, and cried out in pain when you hit the floor.

“Now. Just because I didn’t do it right the first time, doesn’t mean the same mistakes are gonna happen. It’s time for me to finish the job.” Brad sneered at you.

Right as Brad was towering over you with a knife, Eddie managed to pull himself back to consciousness. He stood up, went to a corner of the room where your old IV pole was that they hadn’t taken care of yet, grabbed it, and swung it down on Brad’s head as hard as he could. “Not today.”

Brad pitched forward, so Eddie grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him backward so he fell back instead of forward onto you. He took a deep breath, then fell to his knees in front of you. “Hey.” He whispered, cupping your cheeks in his hands. He could feel blood dripping down his forehead, but ignored it. “Hey, I’m right here. He’s not gonna hurt you anymore, okay?”

Sobbing, you once more ignored the pain in your stomach and threw yourself into Eddie’s arms. He gasped in surprise, but let his arms circle you with no hesitation. “Eddie. Eddie. Are you okay? Oh my god.” 

“Shh.” Eddie squeezed you gently, one hand coming up to stroke his fingers through your hair. “Shh, I’m okay. You’re okay. Everything is okay.” 

“Thank god you’re okay. I was so scared, I didn’t know what to do, I was too scared to get between you two.” You sobbed into his shoulder, hands clenching into tight fists in the fabric of his shirt. 

Eddie shook his head and held you closer. “You did exactly what you needed to do. You should not have gotten in the middle of us, you only would’ve gotten hurt worse.” He took a deep breath. His head felt like it was going to split in two, but he didn’t want to let you go. “I’m proud of you. You made it through it. He’s not going to hurt you again.”

About this time, a woman you vaguely remembered from the apartment came into the hospital, followed by the fire Captain. Bobby, Eddie had said his name was. Bobby started to check Brad over to make sure he was okay, while the police woman got handcuffs on him. 

“Where’s the other one?” Bobby asked Athena, who asked what he was talking about. “He got in a fight, where’s the other —“ About this time, Bobby looked over his shoulder at the other corner of the room. “Eddie?” Another pause. “(Y/N)?”

Athena immediately looked up when she heard the names. “This is your ex?” Then you realized it must be Sergeant Grant from your apartment — Athena, you’d learned her name was. She asked you, and you pulled back from Eddie’s shoulder long enough to nod your confirmation to the sergeant. 

With the tension being broken by their arrival, you suddenly started to feel the pain in your stomach again. You slowly looked down, and Eddie’s gaze followed yours. 

“Damn it, (Y/N).” Eddie whispered as he pulled back from you. “You’re bleeding, why didn’t you tell me you were bleeding?”

It was bad enough that you were able to see blood seeping into the hospital gown, even though all of your wounds were bandaged. “I didn’t — I didn’t realize it.” 

Bobby stood up from where he was looking over Brad, and quickly hit your call button. A couple minutes later, doctors and nurses came rushing in and started to get you up to the hospital bed. 

Bobby helped Eddie up off the floor. “You’re bleeding pretty damn bad, Eddie. What did he hit you with?”

“A vase.” Eddie said quietly. He turned toward you on the bed where the medical personnel were working to get your stitches redone and your bandages changed. “You think she’s gonna be okay?”

Bobby glanced back over to your hospital bed, then back to Eddie. “I think so. Definitely much better off than if you hadn’t been there. Now. You got hit with a vase?”

“Yeah... glass vase.” Eddie took one last glance over at you where you looked like you were going to be okay. He practically felt all of the adrenaline rushing out of his body, and he collapsed in Bobby’s arms.

“Athena, I need help!” Bobby said quickly. She got over to the other side of Eddie to bring him out into the hallway so they’d have more room to work. “Need some help over here!” Bobby called, and hospital nurses and doctors rushed over. 

—————————

* _Eddie’s Hospital Room_ *

When Eddie woke up, at first he wasn’t sure where he was, but he knew his head was pounding. Then he realized he was in the hospital. It took yet another few minutes for him to realize it was his own hospital room, not yours. 

Eddie slowly picked his head up and rubbed his eyes. When he turned his head, he was surprised to see Buck sitting there. “Hey... what are you doing here?”

“Didn’t I tell you not to go chasing waterfalls?” Buck asked, scooting the chair a little bit closer to the hospital bed.

Rolling his eyes, Eddie used the bed’s remote to lift up his head a little bit more, even though it made his head pounding even worse. “You and your damn waterfalls.”

Buck chuckled and shook his head. “Seriously, man. Her boyfriend broke a glass vase over your head and now you’re here. That’s a little too crazy even for me, and you’ve heard my stories. You know I’ve dated some crazy ones.” 

“You’re acting like this is her fault when it’s not.” Eddie shook his head. He’d been wondering what had happened, but now that Buck mentioned the vase, it had all come flooding back. “She’s not responsible for whatever shit he pulls. And besides, what kind of hospital gets a stabbing victim and doesn’t put some sort of security measures around the hospital room?” He asked angrily.

Buck stayed silent, like he could tell there was something else Eddie wasn’t saying. “What kind of firefighter doesn’t realize the hospital didn’t give someone security when they should’ve gotten it?” Eddie cleared his throat and looked back down at his hospital bed. 

“Eddie, no, don’t do that to yourself.” Buck came to sit on the edge of Eddie’s bed. “This isn’t your fault. If you weren’t there when you were, she would have died. No question about it. You saved her.”

“Don’t you see, Buck?!” Eddie asked angrily. “If I had done my damn job and made sure she had a security guard, none of this would’ve happened! I kept leaving her to go to shifts, Buck, what if he had come during one of those?!”

Buck’s voice was quiet as he tried to get a word in edgewise. “But he didn’t —“

But Eddie was still off and running. “And you know, sometimes I wonder what the hell I’m even doing with my life, you know? I couldn’t save Shannon from an awful pregnancy, or from going through said pregnancy alone because I was in Afghanistan. I couldn’t save Christopher from getting stuck when he was born and having medical complications. I couldn’t save Christopher from Shannon completely uprooting his life once more and taking him back to Texas, and now I can’t save this girl who needs to be saved, Buck, I need to save her!”

“Whoa, Eddie, hey.” Buck frowned, his heart aching for his best friend. His best friend who had been suffering so much, and he hadn’t even known it. “Eddie, that’s not fair. There was nothing you could do about Shannon’s pregnancy, or about Christopher’s injury, or even Shannon threatening to take him from you. There’s nothing you could’ve done about any of that. But this girl. (Y/N). Man, you saved her.”

Eddie scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right. I sure saved her. Saved her from getting stabbed again, maybe, but not from another traumatizing memory, not from another thing that will cause nightmares, not from her injuries, considering hers got worse. He surprised me. I never get surprised in fights, but he surprised me. And (Y/N) and I are both paying for it.”

“No, Eddie, you did save her. You said it yourself. When we got to that apartment, she had given up. You kept her alive and talking and hopeful until she got to the hospital. You came and stayed entire nights with her, comforting her and reassuring her that she could take her time waking up. You were the one who immediately went running when you heard screams, you were the one who attacked that jackass, and you’re the one who hit him over the head with an IV pole like a badass.” A small smile formed on Buck’s face at the last part. “You saved her life, Eddie. And if I had to guess, you saved it more than once.”

Buck still didn’t understand the whole thing. He didn’t understand why Eddie was so adamant about protecting you, but after spending enough time around that energy, Buck was even starting to feel a little protective of you.

The two fell into silence, Eddie mostly because the yelling had just made his head hurt even worse, and Buck because he was thinking. It was finally Buck who spoke up again, saying quietly, “I know you feel like you failed today, Eddie. But she would’ve died without you. And I think that’s something to be proud of.”

Eddie looked over to Buck and smiled gently. He was about to say something when he saw Buck look in the doorway, so he turned to look, seeing a doctor. “Mr. Diaz, glad to see you’re awake. I’m Dr. Francis. How are you feeling?”

“Hey, doc. Call me Eddie, please. My head is pounding pretty bad, but I’m okay.” Eddie offered the doctor a little smile, who also gave one in return. 

“To be expected after someone breaks a vase over your head. I’ve mentioned before how it’s unwise to keep anything glass like that in a hospital room, but you can see how far that got me.” Dr. Francis shook his head. “We’ll get your pain medicine increased a little more and it should take care of the pain. Everything’s looking good, we’ll probably just keep you overnight for observation.”

Eddie groaned at the last part. “People come in with concussions all the time and you guys just send them home, do I really need to stay the night?”

Buck spoke up, eyebrows raised. “Don’t act like you weren’t going to spend the night at the hospital anyway. At least this way you can have a bed.”

Eddie looked over to Buck and shook his head. “I’d rather stay with (Y/N) than in here.” He turned back to Dr. Francis. “I’m going to be at the hospital overnight anyway. Are you sure there isn’t any way I can just get discharged and go back through the ER if something terrible were to happen?”

Dr. Francis contemplated for a few moments. “It would be leaving against medical advice, technically, but people do it for far worse injuries. Keeping you overnight is just a precautionary measure. I can get you the AMA papers soon if that’s what you would prefer, but that also means you won’t be able to increase your pain medicine.”

“I don’t care.” Eddie said quickly. “It’s an awful headache, but it’s not going to kill me. I’ll just take some Tylenol.” 

Dr. Francis nodded. “Alright, I’ll go find the papers to have you sign them. Just be sure if you start getting confused, or the headache gets worse, or anything seems off, that you come back and get checked out.”

“I can do that.” Eddie agreed. He didn’t want to hurt himself by any means, but he also didn’t want to stay in the hospital bed any longer than necessary. 

Dr. Francis came back a while later with the ‘leaving against medical advice’ papers, and Eddie started filling them out. They were daunting forms, constantly mentioning how if he were to leave against medical advice he could die, promising if something did happen he wouldn’t sue the hospital, and other information. “Man, these forms.” He muttered at one point as he was signing for what he was pretty sure was the millionth time.

Buck laughed. “Yeah, well. When people are dying and they decide they don’t want to be treated, the hospital has to cover all their bases.” 

“True.” Eddie understood why the forms were as daunting as they were, but it still sucked having to fill all of it out for a concussion, a few stitches, and a headache. 

A woman walked in the doorway breathlessly, like she’d been running. “Are you Eddie?”

Eddie looked up at her in the middle of signing his name and nodded. “Yeah, that’s me. Are you okay?”

“My patient (Y/N) is worried about you, and we can’t get her to calm down. I’m afraid if she doesn’t calm down she’ll pop her stitches again. Would you be able to come with me?”

Eddie glanced over at Buck worriedly. “Get over there while I finish these up, please.” Buck nodded and exited the room after Eddie told him your room number. He only had a couple more signatures to do, so after scanning through to make sure he’d gotten everything, Eddie scribbled his signature a couple more times and stood up from the bed. 

He put a hand to his head in pain from the sudden movement, but shook it off quickly and grabbed his clothes. Eddie changed into the clothes he’d originally been in, making a mental note to ask someone to bring him clothes since these had blood on them. 

“I’m coming, (Y/N).” He murmured to himself as he grabbed his phone, made sure he had everything that was his out of the hospital room, and headed back to your room.

—————————

* _Your Hospital Room_ *

While Eddie had woken up slowly, you woke up fast. You were in pain, you were sweating, and you felt nauseous. “Eddie.” You mumbled as your eyes opened and you quickly looked around, but no one was in there. “Eddie!” 

Your nurse happened to be walking by and heard you, and quickly ducked into your room. “(Y/N), it’s okay. Your boyfriend is gone, and you need to calm down, otherwise you’re going to pop your stitches again.”

“No, I don’t care about Brad, where’s Eddie?!” You started grabbing at the wires in your arm, wanting to pull them out so you could get up. “No, is Eddie okay? Oh my god, this is my fault, he’s hurt and it’s my fault!”

The nurse stepped more toward your bed and grabbed your hand. “You need to leave those alone or I’ll have to restrain you. I will go try to find Eddie, okay?”

“Eddie... he needs to be okay, he can’t be hurt because of me.” You shook your head. You weren’t worth the trouble. You certainly hadn’t been worth the trouble when he was just coming to see you, but you especially weren’t worth the trouble of him getting in a fight and getting hurt. You kept grabbing at the wires, needing to get out of this bed.

The nurse had no choice but to restrain you, because if you ripped all of those out, you were going to be in a world of hurt. As she started tying your wrists to the sides of the bed, you were struggling and screaming. No, this couldn’t be happening, no, Brad wasn’t here, no, he couldn’t be tying you up like this. If you let him get you tied up, there was no way you were going to live. 

Screaming was the first thing Buck heard when he got on your hospital room’s floor. Even though he hadn’t heard you screaming before, he knew it had to be you. He quickly took off in the direction the sound was coming from, and entered your doorway just a few moments later. “(Y/N)!” He said loudly to try to get your attention. “(Y/N), it’s Buck, I’m a firefighter. Remember me? Eddie’s friend? He’s coming, you just have to give him a minute.”

Buck noticed you were tied to the bed. He figured that must be what had you so freaked out, too freaked out to even realize he’d walked in the room and was speaking to you. He quickly went over to the bed and released one of your wrists, and was blindsided when immediately you punched him in the face. He stumbled back in surprise, and about this time, Eddie came through the door.

“Be careful, she’s super out of it.” Buck told Eddie, his hand covering his eye where you’d punched him. “And strong. Damn.”

Eddie didn’t have time to think about what Buck was talking about with you being strong, so he shrugged it off for then. He quickly sat down on the side of your bed and grabbed the wrist that was still frantically trying to get you away from that bed. With his free hand, Eddie cupped your cheek in his hand and gently forced you to look at him. “(Y/N), it’s Eddie. Look at me.” He said firmly, but his voice was still trying to soothe and reassure you.

You flinched at the touch to your face, but immediately looked up with wide eyes when you heard Eddie’s name, and his voice. “Eddie.” You whimpered, before bursting into tears. 

“Yeah, there you go.” Eddie smiled gently when he got your attention. He moved his hand from your cheek to untie your other wrist, and this time he was ready when you practically threw yourself into his arms. “Hey, we’re okay. Athena got him, he‘s going to jail.” 

You pressed your face into the side of his neck, breathing heavily from your freak out and trying to calm down a little bit. You clung to Eddie like he was your lifeline, and he held you back just as tightly, but was sure not to hurt you. “I was so scared.” You whispered, voice shaky. “I saw you get hurt and then I woke up and you were gone and I didn’t know what had happened, I didn’t know if you were okay.”

Eddie smiled softly and turned his head to press a gentle kiss to the side of your head where he could reach. “Just a concussion and a few stitches. I’ve been through much worse, don’t you worry about me.”

Your body started to relax a little bit when Eddie started to rub your back. He could feel you relaxing, so he kept it going. “And then they tied me up, and it was like I was back there again. I was still in the apartment with ... _him_ , and I thought he was tying me up and I knew if I let him get me tied up, that was it. I was going to die.” 

Eddie sighed softly and kissed the side of your head again. “He’s not gonna get you.” He shook his head. “I’m not gonna let that happen. I’m so sorry I even let him get as close as he did.”

You pulled back a little bit so you could look up at Eddie, eyes confused. “Why are you apologizing? You saved me. You got hurt for me, which I’m definitely not worth. There’s nothing for you to apologize for.” 

Eddie shook his head. “You’re worth it.” He said softly. “Everyone is worthy of safety, and that includes you. I should’ve realized you didn’t have a security guard. I even thought it was weird when they gave me your room number that first night I came here with no problem, but I didn’t think about you not having any sort of guard. And I should have. If I had, this wouldn’t have happened.” 

You shook your head this time. “Eddie, it was going to happen at some point. As horrifying as it is, he was going to find me. There was no doubt about it. I’m just grateful that it was while I was here, and while I had you to help me. Please don’t blame yourself. You saved me.” You gave him a small smile, then a moment later you said, “Man... my hand hurts.”

You didn’t even realize until then that Buck was in the room. He chuckled and you looked over at him. “Yeah, you can throw a mean punch when you want to.”

When you looked over, you could immediately see his eye was swollen. His words made you put the pieces together, and you pulled back from Eddie. “Oh my god, I punched you.” You whispered. “Oh my god, I assaulted a firefighter, I’m so sorry, Buck—“

Buck could see you were getting anxious again, and quickly stood up to come over to your bed. He reached out his hand for yours, and when you took it, he squeezed it firmly. “It’s okay. You were delirious and didn’t know where you were, and you thought he was about to hurt you. I’ve been punched before, it’s not a big deal. I promise.” 

“Not a big deal?! Are you joking?!” You shook your head and quickly wiped your eyes. “God, I’m so sorry. I didn’t even realize I punched you.”

Your head was spinning. Sure, you’d been trapped in some sort of PTSD traumatic flashback mind state, but you’d still hurt someone. Not just anyone, either — a firefighter, and Eddie’s best friend. What if it happened again? What if you hurt someone else if you got into that mind state again? What if you hurt _Eddie_? You knew you’d never be able to forgive yourself. 

Eddie pulled you from your train of thought by squeezing your hand. He waited until you looked at him, then gave you a gentle smile. “Everything’s okay. I don’t know what’s going through your head right now, but everything’s okay. Buck will be fine.”

Buck nodded his head vigorously. “Yes. I am fine, I’m going to be just fine.” He smiled at you. “Seriously, (Y/N). Out of everything that had happened today, this is the very last thing you should be worrying about.” 

He smoothed his hand over the back of your head once and smiled. You smiled gently in return, and Buck nodded. “Alright. Now that I know you two are okay, I’m probably gonna head home.”

“Would you be able to bring me a couple changes of clothes and toiletries?” Eddie asked. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed you turning in surprise to look at him, but he just kept looking at Buck. 

Buck nodded. “Yeah, sure. I’ll drop it off in a few hours if that’s alright. Maddie’s car is in the shop so I have to pick her up from dispatch. I can stop here on my way there.”

“Yeah, that’s great. You know where the key is, so just let yourself in. Thanks, Buck.” Eddie finally turned to look at you, where you were still looking at him in surprise. He laughed gently at the surprise on your face, then stayed silent for a second, smiling at you. Finally, he asked, “What?”

“Why are you asking for clothes?” There was no way Eddie was going to stay with you. He’d already done that before you’d woken up, he definitely shouldn’t be doing it now that you had woken up. 

Eddie shrugged. “Figured I’d stay here a while. At least one night.” He smiled. “After that stunt Brad pulled today, I don’t really want you to be alone.” He tucked a stray piece of hair behind your ear. “Even though he’s in jail, I’d feel better if I was here with you.” 

“You don’t have to do that. Really. You’ve already spent multiple nights in the hospital with me, and now you have a concussion. You need a bed, not that chair.” You really wanted Eddie to stay, because you felt safe with him. You knew if he was there, nothing would happen to you. But you had already been such a burden on him, and you hated feeling like that. 

“Seriously, (Y/N). If I go home tonight I’m not going to be getting much sleep anyway. We can talk about it again tomorrow, but tonight, unless you’re kicking me out, I’m staying here.” Eddie’s thumb stroked the back of your hand. “I’d feel a lot better staying here.”

Sighing, you nodded. You still felt bad about him staying, and felt bad about how much you really did want him there. “Okay.” You turned your hand so you could squeeze Eddie’s hand in return. “I’m not kicking you out, so I guess you’re staying.”

“Guess so.” Eddie grinned. He leaned back a bit in the chair next to your hospital bed. “Have they said anything about when you might be able to get out of here?”

You shrugged. “Haven’t exactly talked to them much considering all the emergencies that keep happening.”

“That‘s... a good point.” Eddie laughed and rubbed a hand over his face. “Sorry, I hadn’t even thought about it. Hopefully you’ll get to go home soon.”

You paused, then said quietly, “Yeah.” You looked down at your and Eddie’s hands resting on the bed. 

Right away, Eddie could tell something in you had shifted. He squeezed your hand, and moved to sit on the edge of your bed. “What?” He asked gently. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t... have anywhere to go.” You laughed quietly, even though nothing was funny. “And I don’t have a job, and I don’t have money, so even if I wanted to go back to that apartment, I can’t afford it.” 

Right. Eddie had forgotten you had mentioned all of that when they were trying to save you. When you were giving up. “Don’t worry about it.” He said confidently, even though on the inside he wasn’t quite as confident. “My team and I, we’ll figure something out for you.”

You shook your head. “If you had to figure out something for every person you saved, all of you would be broke and homeless, just like me.” You squeezed his hand lightly and offered him a small smile. “I’m just another person you saved, Eddie.”

“No, no, you’re not.” Eddie shook his head. “I know you feel like you are, but you’re not. Even though we don’t know each other well, you... you mean a lot to me, (Y/N). You’re..” He paused and laughed. “You’re my waterfall, I guess.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Sunday, another chapter! So far we’ve been able to hit about 100 views per chapter, I would be forever grateful if we could keep that up! <3 Comments & kudos feed the muse, let me know what you think or if there’s anything specific you’d like to see!

* _The Firehouse_ *

Now that you actually had security outside your room (after Eddie had begged Athena), Eddie felt a little better about leaving you alone in the hospital. It had been two days since the last incident with Brad, and Eddie had had both of those days off. He’d stayed with you the whole time despite your protests, and now he was getting ready to get back to work.

Eddie hadn’t worked out since he’d been staying with you in the hospital, and it was how he blew off steam, so he was itching for a good workout. You had convinced him to go to his shift early so he’d have plenty of time to work out in the firehouse’s gym area. 

He got boxing gloves on and started in on the punching bag. When did the punching bag start looking like your ex boyfriend’s face? Eddie shook his head to clear it, and kept going. He still had a mild headache from Brad smashing him over the head with a vase, but with Tylenol it would go away for a while. He had no doubts that he was ready to get back to work.

“Looks like you’re working that thing pretty hard.” Eddie glanced up to see Chim standing there, who had also gotten in a little early to do a workout. 

Eddie nodded. “Haven’t worked out in a couple days, gotta get back into it. Also gotta blow off some steam.”

“I’ll say.” Chimney chuckled as he watched how roughly Eddie was fighting the punching bag. He started doing pull ups. “How’s (Y/N)?” He finally asked a few moments later.

Grateful that Chimney had at least called you by your name and not ‘mystery girl’ as everyone else had taken to, Eddie nodded. “She’s good. Recovering well. Actually sleeping well too, but I think that might just be because of the medication she’s on.” He sighed. “Hopefully she’ll get released soon, but I don’t know what she’s going to do after that.”

“Yeah, I bet she doesn’t wanna go back to that apartment.” Chimney said quietly. He’d heard stories from Maddie about being scared to go back to her apartment when she was still with Doug — and after Chimney had gotten stabbed in front of Maddie’s place, he’d been a little anxious to go back there as well. “Too many bad memories in that place.”

Eddie nodded. “Exactly. Even though he’s in jail, she doesn’t want to go back there, and I don’t blame her. But she doesn’t have a job and he controlled all the money, so even though he’s in jail, she still legally doesn’t have any money, because it’s all his.” He shook his head. “Now that I don’t have as many expenses for Christopher, I have some extra money... but it’s not enough to get her a down payment on an apartment and rent long enough for her to find a job after she finishes recovering.”

Chim nodded. “Maybe we could do some sort of fundraiser for her or something.” Then the realization dawned on him, and he chuckled. “Which is why you’re telling me all of this.”

Eddie laughed in return as he finally stopped hitting the punching bag, his arms aching. “Yeah, I was hoping the 118 might be able to sort something out for her.”

“Eddie, come here.” Eddie turned to see Bobby, who didn’t look very happy, and he sighed. He looked back over to Chim and nodded, who nodded in return.

“Coming, Cap.” He grabbed a towel to wipe his face and the back of his neck, then went over to Bobby. 

Bobby led him upstairs to the kitchen, and to the table where they’d always eat. No one was there, so Eddie knew this was supposed to be a private conversation. “Eddie, I’m worried about you.”

Eddie sighed as he sat down and leaned back. “I’m fine, Cap. I talked to the doctor, he said my head is fine, and I only have a mild headache left. I won’t let you down today, I promise.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.” Bobby shook his head. “I know you wouldn’t come back to work unless you and your doctor agreed you were ready, I trust you. No, what I’m worried about is this infatuation with (Y/N).”

Eddie’s jaw clenched. He hated how Bobby was talking about you like you were just a phase Eddie was going through. “I’m not infatuated.”

“I know you’re having a tough time at home, Eddie, but there’s different ways to cope with that, like we talked about before. I think you’re putting all of your eggs in one basket, and that basket is _broken_. She’s broken, Eddie. And she’s going to have to fix herself on her own. You can’t fix it this time.” Bobby paused. “You can’t save everyone.”

It was all Eddie could do to not roll his eyes. “Are you speaking as my captain, or as my friend?” He finally asked, wanting to know if he could speak freely. Not that he couldn’t speak freely with ‘Captain Nash’, but it would be easier if he knew no repercussions were coming. 

“As your friend, I’m telling you I’m worried about you. As your Captain, I’m telling you I’m sending you to therapy, and if you don’t go you’ll be suspended for insubordination.” Bobby nodded. He held up his hand when Eddie tried to protest. “I want to be here for you the best way I know how, Eddie, but I don’t know how to help you. Therapy will help.”

Eddie bit the inside of his cheek angrily, but decided not to say anything about the therapy. It was a direct order, and if he tried to push back, he could get in trouble. So instead, he focused back on the ‘friend’ part of the conversation. “After your past, how could you say she’s broken? I’m not trying to fix her, Bobby. You know why? Because she’s _not_ broken. She’s... bending, not breaking. She’s going to get through it, and I’m going to help her.”

Bobby’s jaw clenched at Eddie’s mention of his past. “You’re out of line, Eddie.” He said, his voice using a warning tone.

“Maybe I am, but at least you know what it’s like! Both of you are haunted by the ghosts of your past, Cap. You with your addiction and your family, her with Brad. You’re not broken, Cap. You got through it.” Eddie said quietly. 

Bobby shook his head. “I may not be broken now, but at the beginning I sure was. You just need to be careful, okay?”

There was silence between the two of them for a few moments. “Actually, today, I was going to ask you if you’d help me put together a fundraiser for her so we could help her get a new apartment. But.” He smiled sadly. “That’s obviously out of the question. Can I go now?”

“Eddie, I never said—“ Bobby started as Eddie got up, and started to walk away. “Eddie, hey. Come on, I know you’re mad about therapy, but—“

“I’m not mad about therapy, Cap, so don’t you do that. You don’t get to tell me what I’m mad about.” Eddie whirled back around to look at Bobby, and approached him until they were only a few inches apart. “I’m mad that my friend, my Captain, doesn’t trust me enough to think I know what I’m doing with my life. How could you possibly trust me to make sound decisions in the field if you think I can’t even make a couple decisions in my home life? I’m mad that I found someone I cared about, and all anyone around here can do is make jokes, or tell me that I’m in over my head. I thought you guys were my family. My friends.” He shook his head. “But I’ll just do this on my own. No problem.”

Bobby sighed. “Eddie, that’s not what I meant. You know the team all loves you and is here for you. We’re just worried about you.”

“Yeah, well, you’ve all sure got a hell of a way of showing it.” Eddie maintained intense, angry eye contact with Bobby for a few seconds more before he shook his head, turned back around, and went back downstairs. 

Eddie put the boxing gloves back on and went back to punching the punching bag, this time more vigorously than he even had before. Chimney noticed, and glanced over for a second. “I take it that didn’t go too well.” He said quietly. 

Eddie’s eyes flickered over toward Chim and he shook his head imperceptibly. “Don’t wanna talk about it.” He said, and Chimney nodded. 

They both continued working out for a while, and Chimney was the first one to speak again. “So what were you thinking for that fundraiser? Bake sale, maybe? I know they don’t usually draw in a ton of money, but we could get people to donate food, and you know everyone loves us, so I’m sure they’d come.”

Eddie couldn’t help the small smile that formed from Chimney’s words, but he just sighed and shook his head. “Appreciate it, Chim. But it looks like this is one I’m gonna have to figure out on my own.”

Chimney’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, then he put two and two together, and realized that must have been what Bobby had talked to Eddie about. “Hey, I don’t know what he said to you, but I’m still down to help out for a fundraiser.” 

Eddie laughed, but there was a hint of anger under it. “You know what he said? That I have a direct order to go to therapy, and if I don’t, I’m going to be suspended. Oh, also, that he’s worried because I’m ‘putting all of my eggs in one broken basket’”. Eddie used air quotes to show Chimney he was being serious about what Bobby had said. 

“No way. He did not call (Y/N) a broken basket.” Chimney said in disbelief, and was still in disbelief when Eddie nodded his head. “Damn, I didn’t expect that at all. Well. Even still. If I can do anything to help out, just let me know, okay?”

Although Eddie was angry at the whole situation, and at the entire firehouse, he knew Chimney had been one of the more supportive ones. Buck had gotten on board a little sooner than him, but at least Chimney hadn’t been making comments left and right to him about ‘mystery girl’. “Thanks, Chim.” He said quietly. “Appreciate it.” 

Chimney nodded. “Of course.” He stopped working out, walked over to Eddie to clap him on the shoulder, then went to freshen up before their shift.

Eddie knew he should be doing the same, but he wanted to blow a little more steam off first. He finally finished a few minutes later, then ran into the locker room to get showered and ready before their day officially started. 

—————————

* _The Victim’s Apartment_ *

Of course it had to be another domestic violence victim. Although they’d been on these calls before, Eddie couldn’t help but feel like the sheer quantity of these calls were increasing dramatically. Or, the 118 was suddenly just close to all of them. But either way, they were going on more domestic abuse calls, and now that he’d gotten closer to you, Eddie didn’t quite know how to handle it.

Just like yourself, Eddie used to judge people in abusive relationships. When he saw the victim, it was always too late — they were always either in the hospital or _dead_. He didn’t understand how somebody could just stick around until it got to that point. How people could tolerate being hit, being screamed at, being burned, being kicked, by their significant other. If anyone ever so much as thought about doing that to him, he’d be gone.

But then he met you, and things started to look a little different. Before you, he hadn’t considered financial and social abuse. He hadn’t considered the abuser sometimes would control all the money, he hadn’t considered the abuser would cut the victim off from everyone else in their life that they cared about. He hadn’t considered how hard it would be to leave if someone had no money, no friends, and no place to go.

Of course, there were shelters and support groups. But if the abuser had been emotionally abusing the victim, why would they ever believe they deserved the help? They would feel like they were taking the spot from someone who actually deserved it, who actually needed it. 

When they got there, the victim was choking on her own blood. Her throat had been slashed. It didn’t even look like domestic abuse, it just straight looked like a homicide attempt. They found an ID, because she couldn’t talk, and found out her name was Rebecca. “Okay, Rebecca, I’m Eddie. We’re gonna take care of you, okay? You’re going to be fine.”

Hen was taking Rebecca’s blood pressure and other vitals while the rest of the team was trying to get the blood flow staunched, and get her hooked up to all of the medications needed to stabilize her long enough to get her to the hospital. “BP’s dropping fast—“ She managed to say before Rebecca passed out. “I lost her pulse. Starting compressions.”

“C’mon, Rebecca.” Eddie muttered quietly as he finished bandaging up her neck and stepped back to allow Hen to do compressions. “C’mon, don’t let him win like this.”

The minutes went by agonizingly slowly, but they knew they couldn’t get Rebecca in the ambulance if they were still performing CPR. Eddie wasn’t sure how much long later, but finally Bobby said quietly, “Hen.” His voice was firm, and everybody knew what he was about to say. “We gotta call it.”

As Bobby called time of death, Eddie stood up and stumbled out of the apartment. There had never before been a time in the 118 where Eddie hadn’t been able to handle a death, but there was a first time for everything. She looked too similar to you, and Eddie knew it could have definitely _been_ you had they arrived even a few minutes later on that fateful day. 

Eddie went outside to the parking lot and sat down on the curb. He took a deep breath, wiped his eyes, and grabbed his phone.

_Eddie: You okay?  
(Y/N): Yeah, I’m good. Why?  
Eddie: Just needed to make sure  
(Y/N): Are you okay?  
Eddie: I will be. Is it okay if I come to the hospital after my shift?  
(Y/N): Of course, you know you don’t need to ask permission.  
Eddie: Okay. Just wanted to make sure. Stay safe. I’ll see you later.  
(Y/N): I will. You too, firefighter Diaz._

Eddie smiled gently at the nickname, then saw movement by him as he stuck his phone back in his pocket. He looked up, sighed when he saw it was Bobby, and quickly looked back down. “Look, I know what you’re going to say.” He said quietly. He kept looking down as Bobby sat next to him. “I know you’re going to say that I’m in over my head with (Y/N), that it was unprofessional for me to leave a scene like that, that I need to go to therapy... which I will, I swear, I just haven’t made the appointment yet, please don’t suspend me. I just — I couldn’t do it, Cap. I saw (Y/N) on that floor, and I just kept thinking about how if we’d gotten there a few minutes later that day, that would’ve been her.”

Bobby gave Eddie a small smile and reached up to put his hand on his shoulder. “I wasn’t going to say any of that, actually. I was going to ask if you were okay.” He squeezed Eddie’s shoulder. “Do you remember that motorcycle accident we were at a while back? The guy got a brand new motorcycle and then almost immediately after got in a crash?”

Eddie nodded. “And he was torn completely in two. Stayed alive because of his heart pumping blood to the upper part of his body, but his heart also killed him by pumping all of his blood out onto the street. That was a rough one.”

Bobby looked in front of him, out at the street they were on the curb of. “I had the same kind of moment as you did just now. As soon as he died, I broke. I went and found a curb that was away from the scene, sat down, and just... broke down. Athena was actually the one who came after me.”

Eddie had never realized that scene had shaken Bobby so much. He knew there was a reason for that — as the Captain, Bobby hated his team seeing him vulnerable in any of those situations. “What did she say?”

“She told me that nobody bats one thousand, especially in our line of work. Especially with the things we see every day.” Bobby sighed. “That nobody’s going to have all good days. We’re not robots, Eddie. We try to turn off some of our feelings when we go on calls, but we can’t completely turn them off, and we can’t do it for every single call. Especially the ones that hit closer to home.”

Eddie finally looked back up at Bobby and nodded. “Yeah... yeah. I guess you’re right. I texted (Y/N). She’s fine, of course. I just... needed to hear she was okay, I guess.”

“That’s what happens when you care about someone.” Bobby squeezed Eddie’s shoulder again. “I know I’ve given you a lot of crap, Eddie. I just want the best for both you and (Y/N). It’s still a direct order for you to go to therapy, but I’ll back off.”

Eddie looked up, a little surprised at that. “Wait... really?” He had half hoped Bobby would change his mind about him going to therapy, but he seemed dead set on that. Oh well. A few therapy sessions and he could tell Bobby he’d done it and get him off his back. “We literally just talked about it earlier today, what changed?”

“You did.” Bobby offered him a little smile. “Although what you said was out of line to say to your Captain... you were right. After my past, I shouldn’t be judging anyone for theirs. And the way you talked to me, the way you got angry with me when you’re usually so level headed, it showed me you really do care about her.” 

Eddie smiled softly. “I do. And I know it’s crazy that in such a short time I’ve started to care too much, and that we met the way we did. But... I don’t know. Something drew me to her, and it’s still there.” 

“We might give you a lot of crap, but you know we’re all here for you, Eddie. We all just want what’s best for you, especially after Shannon.” Bobby sighed. “I’ve probably been the worst with giving you crap, but I am here for you.”

“Thanks, Cap.” Eddie nodded. “For everything, not just for this.” 

—————————

* _The Hospital_ *

Bobby had asked Eddie if he wanted to go home after the domestic abuse victim, but Eddie had told him no. He’d learned in the military how to push things out of his mind and focus on the task at hand, so although between calls he was still struggling, during the calls he managed to keep a cool head. 

But at the same time, it felt like their shift had been days long by the time they were finally back at the firehouse and changing out of their clothes. 

Eddie had quickly changed and said goodnight to everyone, and immediately went to the hospital. On his way to your room, he saw the hospital’s gift shop was open, so he stopped in to see if they had anything. 

After wandering for a few minutes, he came upon the flower section, and came upon some flowers in glass vases. He snorted at the irony of it, and decided he would get some flowers — but he’d get them without the vase. Probably too soon to bring that back into your life.

Eddie also got some chocolate, paid for it, then headed to your room. He knocked gently, and slowly pushed open the door cautiously when he didn’t get a response. “(Y/N)? It’s Eddie.” 

Eddie smiled when he poked his head in and saw you were sleeping. He glanced at the time and saw it was pretty late. They’d worked the mid shift today, so they hadn’t gotten out until midnight, and it was now approaching 1am. 

Eddie laid the flowers down on the bedside table along with the chocolate, and scooted the chair up to your bed. He leaned up to kiss your forehead, smiled gently when you subconsciously moved into the touch, then sat down in the chair. Eddie had brought a book to the hospital one of the times he’d come to visit you, so he opened the book and started reading, still too wound up from the day to even think about trying to sleep. 

After a couple hours, Eddie finally looked up from the book and rubbed his eyes. Now that some time had passed, and he was able to see with his own eyes that you were okay, he was finally relaxing enough to sleep. He grabbed his jacket and draped it over himself, then settled in. 

Eddie was just about to fall asleep when he heard movement. He cracked his eyes open to look over at you, and saw you were shifting. He nodded to himself and closed his eyes again. But right as Eddie was about to fall asleep, you _screamed_.

He immediately jumped up from his chair and scanned the room for any threats, but when he looked down at you, he noticed your eyes were still closed. Eddie took a deep breath to calm his racing heart, then sat down on your bed. “Hey, hey, (Y/N).” He said soothingly and put his hand on your shoulder to gently shake you. He didn’t want to startle you, but needed to wake you up.

Even though he was trying not to startle you, his efforts were in vain. You gasped as you sat bolt upright in bed, your eyes wide and searching the room in confusion. One second you were in your apartment’s kitchen with Brad, and the next second you were somewhere else.

The first thing you saw was a man there. You didn’t register who it was, just that it was a man — and given that you were still half asleep and in nightmare-mode, you automatically assumed it was Brad. You gasped again and immediately pressed back into the bed, trying to get away from him and the hand on your shoulder.

Eddie could tell something was happening, so he quickly pulled his hands away and held them up in surrender so you could see he meant no harm. “(Y/N).” He said softly, his voice soothing. “(Y/N), it’s me, Eddie. I’m not going to hurt you. He’s not here. You’re safe.”

His hazel eyes met yours in an intense gaze. He could see you were scared, and he didn’t want to spook you, so he just looked back at you, his eyes warm and reassuring. “Eddie.” You finally whispered.

A smile broke out on his face and he nodded. “Yeah, sweetheart. It’s me. You’re okay.” Eddie reached his hand back out slowly, but didn’t touch you.

You looked at his hand for a few moments, like you were deciding what to do. Finally, you ignored his hand, and instead opened your arms to him... and promptly burst into tears. 

“Oh, sweetheart.” Eddie quickly gathered you up in his arms and held you close to his chest. “It was just a nightmare. You’re okay now, you’re safe now.” 

Eddie started to rub your back as you buried your face into his shoulder like you were trying to hide. He held you close and kissed the top of your head. Neither of you said anything, there was nothing left to be said. He could feel you slowly relaxing, and thanks to the heart monitor, he could literally hear your heartbeat starting to slow as the rest of you relaxed. “There you go.” He said softly. “Good girl. Just relax.”

You exhaled shakily onto the side of Eddie’s neck, and he felt it. He started to slowly maneuver you, shushing you when you whimpered. “I’m not going anywhere. Just getting us a little more comfortable.” 

Although he knew it was against the rules, Eddie slowly turned the two of you until he could lay in the bed with you. You kept your tight grip on him, and he made sure not to let you go for even a second, so as to avoid having another meltdown. Finally, you were both laying on your sides, your arms still wrapped around each other. “See? Much better.”

You nodded and stayed close to him. “Thank you.” You murmured quietly. “For being here, and for waking me up, and for holding me.”

Eddie smiled. “Nothing to thank me for. Especially after the day I had, I... let’s just say I really needed to come see you just as much as you needed me to be here.”

You pulled away from Eddie a little bit to look up at him. “You wanna talk about it?” You asked, your fingers coming up to gently comb through his hair. “Figured something had happened on your shift.”

Eddie tilted his head back a little bit into your touch, but shook his head. “No, I’ll be okay. Just had a rough call that hit a little close to home today, that’s all. Just glad I could come see you.”

“Me too.” You murmured, your fingers still moving through his hair. “Gets kinda lonely without you here, I’m not gonna lie.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, but you get to leave pretty soon, right? Tomorrow if everything was going well?”

Even you were surprised that the hospital was letting you go so soon, but at the same time, you understood. You only had stitches now, it wasn’t like you had to worry about blood loss or anything you’d originally had to worry about when you entered the hospital. “Yeah.” You answered gently. “Have to follow up with my primary care provider in a week to get the stitches out, but they think tomorrow I should be getting out of here.” 

“Good thing I have tomorrow off then.” Eddie smiled gently and kissed your forehead. “Why don’t you try to get some more sleep? I was also just falling asleep when you woke up.” 

You nodded. “If you want to go home, you can.” You made sure to tell him that every night, because you wanted him to know the option was there. He wasn’t stuck staying in the hospital with you.

“Mm, I’m pretty comfortable right here.” Eddie grinned and you couldn’t help but to return his smile. “I’ll probably have to get up when a nurse comes in since this is against the rules, but I’ll stay in bed with you as long as I can.”

“Okay.” You rested your head on his shoulder and turned just a bit to nuzzle your nose into the side of his neck. “Good night, Eddie.”

Eddie’s fingers returned to stroking through your hair gently, hoping the soothing motion would help you fall asleep. “Good night, (Y/N).”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oop I’m a day late again, sorry! I’m so glad you guys are liking this, and I’d love to get some more interaction from you! Comments & kudos feed the muse <3

* _The Hospital_ *

Thanks to Eddie staying with you, you’d actually gotten a good night’s sleep. Or, as good as you could while in a hospital where medical personnel come in at all hours of the night to wake you up for random things. 

But soon enough, it was time to leave the hospital. Or at least, get the paperwork to leave the hospital started. Dr. Schmidt came in with the papers and started talking to you about next steps and what to do when you got home.

“We advise you have someone there at all times at least for the first few days after you get home to ensure nothing happens. Not that we think it’s going to, but as I’m sure you know, we like to cover all our bases.” The doctor smiled, and you sent him a small smile in return. “No strenuous activity, especially lifting, until all of your wounds are completely healed — but especially until you get the stitches out in a week. Which brings me to my next reminder, you need to make an appointment with your primary care provider about a week from now to get those stitches out.”

You nodded your head as you skimmed through the directions the doctor had given you, which essentially said the same thing, just in more medical terms. You signed a couple times. “Okay, I understand.”

Dr. Schmidt watched as you flipped through more of the pages. “A little more pain is to be expected, because here you’re on morphine, and obviously you can’t be on morphine while at home. But if the pain gets unbearably bad, any of the stitches start to look off, or if anything just seems... not right in your body, you need to come get it checked out. Doesn’t matter if you don’t think it’s anything, it’s better to be safe than to be sorry.”

After you nodded, Dr. Schmidt continued. “Bandages will need to be changed at least 3 times a day. If they start looking gross, or look like you’re bleeding through — first, consider coming back to the ER if you’re bleeding — but secondly, they’ll need to be changed more. Just use common sense and keep an eye on them and the dressings should be fine.” 

Dr. Schmidt asked if you had any questions and you told him no. After telling you to call if you had any questions, Dr. Schmidt said goodbye to you, and exited the room. You took a deep breath and continued looking through the papers. Although he’d just explained it in simple terms, it was so much medical jargon. 

Originally, the medical jargon wouldn’t have freaked you out so much. But in the back of your mind, you were realizing you were in over your head. You had nowhere to go except that god forsaken apartment. You had no friends, except for this kind firefighter who’d already sacrificed so much to stay with you. The bandage changes were awful even when nurses did them, you couldn’t imagine doing it on yourself.

Without realizing it, you were starting to have an anxiety attack. Because you had been getting prepped for going home, you were no longer hooked up to any monitors, so there were no beeps giving your rising heart rate away.

But just because there weren’t any auditory signs didn’t mean Eddie didn’t see what was happening. He’d been listening intently to the doctor as well, and he could see as your mind started slowly falling down that rabbit hole of what would happen next.

Eddie gave you a few moments to process everything, but he didn’t want to give you too much time and let you fall further down into the rabbit hole than you should. He came to sit behind you on the bed, and smoothed both of his hands over your back. “Hey.” He said softly.

You jumped in surprise when you felt his hands, then heard his voice. You sniffled and quickly wiped your eyes, then shook your head. “I can’t — I’m not ready to leave the hospital, Eddie. I need to stay here, I’m not ready.” 

Eddie frowned, his eyes sad. He kept rubbing his hands over your back, and kept his voice calm and soothing. “Why do you think you’re not ready?”

“Because I — because I’m not! The only place I can go back to is Brad’s apartment, I don’t have anyone to stay with me in case of an emergency, I can’t do all of those bandage changes on my own three times a day, and I — I’m gonna be alone, Eddie, and what if he sends someone for me?” You were right up to hyperventilating now, and Eddie squeezed your shoulders to try to ground you a little bit, bring you back to earth.

He wrapped his arms around you from behind, and pressed a gentle kiss to your shoulder to distract you. “Hey, listen to me.” Eddie took a deep breath. “I didn’t want to say anything in case it fell through, but I got the next few days off with Bobby’s permission. I... if you’re okay with it, I’d like you to come back to my place, and you can stay with me for a few days until you at least don’t need 24/7 supervision anymore. Then we can go from there.” 

You quickly pulled away from Eddie enough that you could twist your body to look at him. “Eddie, no. Oh my god, no. You‘ve already done so much for me, I can’t possibly ask you to ... to take time off work, to open your home to me, to actually take care of me.”

At the last part of your sentence, both Bobby and Buck’s words rang through Eddie’s head. “ _Now you found this pretty girl who’s in the hospital because of her boyfriend, who’s going to be recovering for a long time, and I think maybe... deep down you think you could take care of her._ ” “ _I know you’re having a tough time at home, Eddie, but there’s different ways to cope with that, like we talked about before. I think you’re putting all of your eggs in one basket, and that basket is _broken_. She’s broken, Eddie. And she’s going to have to fix herself on her own. You can’t fix it this time._”

He quickly shook his head as if to clear the thoughts from his mind. “You didn’t ask. I’m offering.” Eddie said firmly. “And I would really like it if you took me up on my offer.”

In a split second your eyes filled with tears and before you even realized it, they were spilling over. Just looking at the sincerity in Eddie’s eyes, the hope, the warmth, the kindness... it was all too much. You knew you didn’t deserve for anyone to look at you like that, let alone this selfless man.

Eddie’s hands came up to cup your cheeks and his thumbs started to wipe away the tears spilling down. “Whoa, hey, why the tears?” He asked gently.

“Because I don’t deserve it, and here you are, just offering it to me like it’s nothing.” You shook your head and instinctively tried to wipe your eyes, but you were stopped by Eddie’s hands still on your cheeks.

He met your eyes with a firm gaze, and then it was his turn to shake his head. “You deserve safety and comfort and care. Those are all things every single person deserves, you included. If there’s somewhere else I can take you where you’d feel more comfortable, you just tell me, and I’ll get you there. Okay?” Eddie’s eyes searched your face. “Anywhere you need. But let me help you get there.”

You sniffled again and held the intense gaze with Eddie, not wanting to break it. You were also searching his face for insincerity, for exhaustion to show you he was already too tired to take care of you, for anything that showed you you shouldn’t accept the offer. Hell, you knew you shouldn’t accept the offer simply because he was the firefighter that saved you. 

But there was just so much to say yes to.

The way Eddie looked at you, like you were the only one in the room. The way he was always so gentle with you, so sweet with you. The way he somehow always knew when you were spiraling and needed to be pulled out of it, without you even saying anything. 

Eddie didn’t rush you, and he didn’t push you. He maintained eye contact for as long as you did, his face serious and sincere. Finally, you nodded once. “Just for a few days.” You whispered.

A smile slowly formed on his face until he was grinning. Eddie laughed, just because he was happy. “Just for a few days.” He agreed, and pulled you in for a tight hug.

You wrapped your arms back around him and laughed also, smiling as you pressed your face into his shoulder. 

Eddie held you like that for a few beats longer than was probably necessary. When he finally pulled back, he was still smiling at you. “C’mon. Let’s go home.” 

—————————

* _The Firehouse_ *

“Alright guys, so as we all know, Eddie is going to be out for a few days because (Y/N) is HOME from the hospital and needs someone to stay with her for a few days!” Chimney announced to the rest of the 118 and Maddie when they were all eating dinner together during their shift. 

Maddie had decided to come cook dinner for them, since Chimney had taken this shift of Eddie’s and she was going to be home alone anyway. Everybody smiled, and a couple cheers came, one from Buck and one from Hen. 

“But what you don’t know is that they don’t have a plan for what happens after the next few days. Because (Y/N)‘s ex-boyfriend controlled all the money, she doesn’t have anything. So I was thinking we could do a fundraiser and raise some money to help her get a good apartment and keep her on her feet while she recovers until she can get a job again.” Chimney said, glancing to all of them to see the looks on their faces. 

“I don’t know, sounds like she might not need an apartment.” Buck pointed out, though it was with a teasing tone to his voice. “Sounds like Prince Charming’s got it all taken care of over there.” 

Chimney rolled his eyes and was just about to respond when Maddie instead responded. “Even if she does stay with Eddie, it’s going to be a while before she can actually find a job. And trust me when I say that having money, that having control of your own finances, that’s... life changing.” Everybody was silent, knowing Maddie was talking from experience. “I was thinking we could start heavily advertising today, then have the fundraisers tomorrow and the next day, that way Eddie’s surprised.”

Hen nodded. “Karen has a few friends that are into advertising and marketing, I’ll see if she has anyone she can call that could help us.”

Bobby smiled softly. “I’ll talk to Athena, see if we can get the police department’s support as well.” 

Both Maddie and Chimney smiled happily. Maddie had been asking a lot about you, and although she’d never physically met you, she felt like she knew you. After everything she’d gone through with Doug, she always wanted to help domestic abuse survivors as much as she possibly could. 

Everybody did their part. They all got ahold of people who could either help them with marketing and advertising, or reached out to people who’d be able to help bake something for a bake sale, or others who might just want to drop by.

The next day when they all came in hours before their shift, they got everything set up — and to their surprise, the generosity was amazing. Even though these people had been given no warning, they had a ton of baked goods donated, and they had a nice swarm of people coming in to buy, or even just donate. 

“Looks like business is booming.” Buck was just finishing up wrapping a few no-bake cookies for a customer when he heard a familiar voice, and he looked up to see who it was.

Standing there was the one and only Taylor Kelly. Buck laughed quietly and shook his head. “Taylor Kelly. Fancy meeting you here.” He said as he gestured toward the tables filled with food. “Feel like buying some cookies?”

“Do I look like the kind of girl that buys cookies?” Taylor scoffed, and it was all Buck could do to not roll his eyes. “You guys haven’t had a charity event in a while, I wanted to see what was going on. Hope you guys don’t mind if I take a peek around.”

Buck rubbed the back of his neck. Both he and Taylor knew better than anyone that Bobby hated cameras in the firehouse, but Buck hoped he’d make an exception for the charity event. “Yeah, sure. Go for it.”

He watched out of the corner of his eye as Taylor stood in front of a blank wall, and faced her camera man. “LA Fire Department’s team 118 has been known for their heroic actions and generous hearts for years now. You may recall I did a documentary about them, and about all of the lives they change every single shift, and today is no different. Although today they’re not suiting up in their uniforms to put out a fire or save someone from a tragic accident — no, the 118 has suited up today to put on a bake sale for charity. I’m Taylor Kelly. Make sure you stick around for a tour through the bake sale to see what they’ve got cooking, because I’m sure it’s hot.”

Even the cameraman rolled his eyes at her pun, but she didn’t care. Taylor could edit it out later if she wanted to. She gestured for the cameraman to follow her as she started scanning through all of the sweets they had on display.

Even Taylor had to admit it was impressive. Cookies, brownies, cakes, cupcakes, if you named a junk food, they probably had it. They also had some somewhat healthier food, like trail mix and gluten free options, and even Taylor started looking a little more at those, debating on buying one to indulge a little bit. 

After the camera got a good view of the tables, Taylor came back up to Buck. “Buck, it’s great to see you again.” She said, obviously for the benefit of the camera. “I see the 118 has taken to some charity work today — what’s the cause?”

“Recently we responded to a call of a domestic abuse victim. Her boyfriend stabbed her multiple times in an attempt to kill her, but she survived. Then a couple days after that, when she was in the hospital, he found her and tried to finish the job. He didn’t succeed, thankfully, and did end up getting arrested. But she just got out of the hospital and she has no money, because her boyfriend controlled all of the finances.” Buck nodded. “So we decided to hold this bake sale to raise some money to help her get an apartment and have enough money to live comfortably while she recovers, until she can get a job.” 

Taylor hadn’t really been expecting anything specific, but she really hadn’t been expecting the bake sale to be for someone they had saved. “Oh.” She said briefly while she tried to think about what to say next. “That’s a very noble cause for you all to volunteer your time to. And why this girl? After all, you save many people every day, and I’m sure you’ve had more than one call like this one.” 

Buck cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah, as horrible as it is, we get these calls pretty frequently.” He glanced at the camera, but then quickly looked back to Taylor. “I don’t know, really. She just... kinda got close to Eddie, and then after that she got closer to everyone.”

“She got close to Eddie?” Taylor asked, eyebrows raised. “Close in what way?”

Buck hadn’t even realized what he’d said until Taylor said that, and he immediately wanted to backtrack, but he knew that wasn’t possible. “Uh— looks like Hen’s out of tinfoil and needs more. I gotta go. See ya around.” 

“Mhm.” Taylor said with a nod, obviously realizing he was running away from the conversation. So that was interesting. “Captain Nash!” She said with a big smile, and had to bite back a laugh when she saw him groan inwardly to himself at the sight of her. “Been a while!”

Bobby was looking like that while had been not nearly long enough, but he didn’t say anything. “Yes, it has. How have you been, Taylor?”

“I’ve been great thank you, and I heard you’re engaged to Sergeant Grant! Congratulations!” She grinned

Bobby looked surprised that she knew about that, but he quickly got rid of the surprised expression and just gave her an uncomfortable smile. “Thank you.” 

“Of course, of course.” Taylor paused, then cut to the chase. “I have to say, I’m a little surprised you let this fundraiser happen.”

Bobby raised an eyebrow at that. He excused himself for a moment to take a donation from someone, but Taylor was still right there when he got done. He sighed quietly. “And why’s that?”

“Well, I just assumed you would think it’s unprofessional for a firehouse to run an event for one specific victim when you save multiple people every day.” Taylor shrugged. “Or that you’d find it unprofessional that one of your firefighters fell for the victim.”

Taylor had added the last part just to see what Bobby’s reaction would be. She wasn’t disappointed when he immediately looked around, then looked back at her. “Where did you hear that?” He asked quietly. 

“So it’s true?” Taylor asked, and as she smiled so ‘innocently’, Bobby realized what had just happened. She’d just played him.

He quickly shook his head. “No, no — just, I’m not going talk about my firefighters’ personal lives either way. That’s their business, not mine. I just don’t need you spreading false information about my firefighters — which you know is why I don’t like cameras in the firehouse.” He said pointedly. 

A less amused smile formed on Taylor’s face this time. “Is that an order to go, Captain Nash?”

Bobby also kept the fake smile. “Yes, it is. Thanks for stopping by.” 

“Oh, I think we’ll be seeing each other real soon.” 

—————————

* _Eddie’s Apartment_ *

“Welcome home.” Eddie’s grin was as radiant as the sun as he helped you through the doorway of his apartment into his kitchen. “Home for a few days, at least. It’s not much, but... it’s home for me.”

Quite honestly, you were amazed at how big it was. You and Brad had a nice apartment in LA, but it wasn’t nearly the size of this one, and you had only seen the kitchen. The kitchen seemed massive compared to the little box kitchen you were used to. 

“It’s amazing, Eddie.” You said sincerely, and he sent that radiant smile your way, and you couldn’t help but swoon a little bit. He was looking at you like that. 

There was also a little voice in the back of your mind that was worrying. This was all moving so fast. Not that Eddie was pushing you in any way, and not like you thought he would ever actually be interested in you, but you were now living in his apartment for at least a few days. It was a form of intimacy, to live together, even if it was only temporary. Intimacy was not something you were very familiar with, and it certainly wasn’t something you were comfortable with. 

But come on, who were you kidding? Someone like ‘firefighter Diaz’ would never fall for someone as pathetic as you. He would want a strong woman, not some girl who couldn’t get away from her abusive boyfriend. Not some girl who had no job or money, he would want someone independent. And no matter when you looked at him you saw a 10... when you looked at yourself in the mirror you saw a 6 on the good days — and those were few and far between. 

There was no way Eddie Diaz would ever want you, and it was as simple as that. He was just being nice, offering you a place to stay. All of the physical contact was more than likely just touches he probably knew you needed at the time. It wasn’t a secret to anyone who knew your story that you were touch starved. 

“(Y/N)?” You were pulled from your train of thought when you felt a touch to your face. You quickly looked up to see Eddie, who was looking at you worriedly. “Are you okay?”

You quickly nodded your head. “Yeah, of course. I’m fine. Why?” 

Eddie still didn’t seem too convinced. “I said your name three times before I finally came back over and touched your cheek.” He offered you a gentle smile. “I was asking if you wanted to get settled in bed, or on the couch. You shouldn’t be standing for too long.”

“Oh. Yeah, I was just thinking, sorry.” You offered him a gentle smile in return. But right after that, when he mentioned you shouldn’t be walking, the smile turned into a fond eye roll. “I’m allowed to walk and stand, Eddie. That doesn’t count as strenuous activity. But... I think the couch would be nice.”

Eddie saw right through you when you added on the last sentence. “Yeah, well, just because you’re allowed to do it doesn’t mean it’s easy.” He said pointedly, and you smiled sheepishly. “You’ve been in bed a while now, it’s going to take some time to build that strength back up.” 

“Yeah, yeah. Just feel like... I don’t know. Feel stupid that I made it out alive from stabbing and now I’m just too weak to walk or stand for long periods of time.” Eddie wrapped his arm around your waist and you put your arm around his shoulders as he helped you to the couch. “If I was strong enough to make it through a stabbing, I should be strong enough to walk like a normal human being.”

Then it was Eddie’s turn to roll his eyes. “Yes, you were damn strong enough to make it through a stabbing. But that took a _lot_ of strength. And just like anything else, you can’t do anything forever. You had been strong for so long because of that jackass that when you finally could be vulnerable again, you took it. You became vulnerable and let others take care of you, because that’s what you needed to do. The next step in that is rebuilding what you once had. Just... with maybe a few less walls this time.”

With Eddie referencing walls, you knew he had to mean the walls you had with letting people in. With your history with Brad, letting people in didn’t come easily to you, and neither did vulnerability. 

You didn’t say anything as Eddie helped you to lay down on the couch. It was a bigger couch than you’d imagined, and actually pretty comfortable. 

Deciding to change the subject, you looked back at him. “This is a really nice couch.”

Eddie rolled his eyes fondly again, but smiled and nodded. “Yeah, well. With my wife I spent one too many nights on the couch, and my back was suffering.”

Then and there, you felt like your world was crashing down. Of course he had a wife. Why wouldn’t he? He was perfect. 

Eddie realized what he’d just said at the same time you did, and he was silently cursing himself for it. Of course he was going to tell you at some point, but he hadn’t planned to just accidentally slip it into conversation. “(Y/N), I —“

You cleared your throat to interrupt him and shook your head. It wasn’t like you could act like you were upset. You two weren’t together, he’d never made any moves toward you, and hell, you were nowhere near ready to jump back into the dating scene. “You have a wife! That’s great. I’m sure she’s lovely.” You offered him a forced smile. “What’s her name? Is she okay with me staying here?”

Eddie could see right through your facade. He shook his head and quickly kneeled on the floor in front of you. “Uh, her name’s Shannon, but we’re separated. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to spring that on you like that. We’re not together, and there’s no way we ever would be back together.” 

“What do you mean about springing it on me?” You asked, still trying to keep up the lie that you weren’t upset at all. “Oh... you’re separated?” You honestly didn’t know how to navigate this conversation. What were you supposed to say? “I’m sorry. That must be hard.”

Eddie sighed. He ran a hand through his hair and got up from where he was kneeling in front of you. But he only got up to instead perch on the coffee table in front of you, so he could be more at your level. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “I haven’t really told you much about my life, (Y/N).”

You nodded slowly. “No, you haven’t. But you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to.” You were slowly reminding yourself that he was just an acquaintance. A friend at best. 

Eddie smiled sadly. “I can already see you’ve put your guard back up around me.” He reached his hand out to you, and you hesitantly took it. “Just give me five minutes to tell you about my life, and then you can put that wall back down for me.” 

It was a little unnerving that Eddie could read you so well this early on in the friendship. You nodded and squeezed his hand gently. 

“So you know I was in the military. Shannon and I were married at the time. During one of my leaves, Shannon got pregnant. She had our son, Christopher, just before I was going to be ending my tour. The pregnancy was... hard on her, and then Christopher got stuck coming out, and had some other medical complications, and finally got diagnosed with cerebral palsy.” Eddie bit his lip. “And I ran away. I left her alone by signing on for another tour in Afghanistan, because I didn’t know how to care for a sick child. I told myself I was doing it to take care of Christopher and pay the medical bills, but really... I was just running away.”

Well, this was a lot of information at once. You remembered the one time Eddie had mentioned Christopher and immediately shut down. Now that you knew it was his son, you could only fear the worst. “And then what happened?” You finally asked. 

“Eventually I came home to Texas from Afghanistan. Then Shannon’s mom got sick and she moved out to California to take care of her. We... we thought she’d come back. But communication got to be less and less until we just pretty much stopped talking, and she never came home.” Eddie rubbed the back of his neck. “When I was finally ready to move on, I moved out to LA because the 118 is one of the best teams in the country, and I wanted to be on it.”

You nodded. So after he had moved to LA, Eddie and his wife had rekindled their relationship. That was where this was going, right? But Eddie had said they were separated. “But then you were close to her again.”

Eddie sighed and nodded. “Yeah. And to get Christopher into this amazing school I found, they needed to interview her. So I had to call her and we had to meet and talk.” Eddie squeezed your hand. “All we did was fight, just like I’d expected. But we reconciled long enough for her to get Christopher into the school, and everything was great. Until Shannon randomly decided she was moving back to Texas, and taking Christopher with her. And if I didn’t agree, she would go to court to sue me for custody.” 

Your jaw dropped in surprise. That was definitely not the twist you’d been expecting it to take. “So you agreed?”

Eddie nodded again. “I had to. We both consulted with lawyers and they agreed Shannon would probably win. And I didn’t want to put Christopher through that. So... I’m still married to Shannon, but there’s no way we would ever reconcile, and Christopher is my son who I love very much, who now lives in Texas with his mother. That only happened a couple months ago now, and I’m still struggling to come to terms with it.”

“Eddie... come here.” You waited until Eddie came over to the couch and kneeled next to it, and you pulled him in for a tight hug. “And all this time I didn’t even know anything was wrong. I’m so sorry, Eddie.”

Eddie quickly wiped his eyes before anything fell, then hugged you back. He didn’t like talking about feelings. It wasn’t his thing. So to even confess he was still struggling with Shannon taking Christopher was a big deal. “You weren’t supposed to know. No one knew. They knew Shannon took Christopher, but no one knew the story behind it or how badly I was dealing with it. And then you came into my life, and... I don’t know. I guess things have been a little brighter since then.”

You couldn’t help but to smile gently at the last part. “I’m glad I could help brighten things up a little bit, though I’m not sure how you getting a vase smashed over your head and sleeping in a chair in a hospital room brightened your life.”

Eddie chuckled. He pulled back to cup your cheek in his hand briefly. “Because I had something I cared about again. Because I had... a waterfall.”

“You know, you keep saying that and I still have no idea why you call me that.” You laughed softly, but leaned into the touch when Eddie cupped your cheek in his hand. 

Eddie smiled. “It’s... kind of a long story, and I honestly think it’s a story for a different time.” He knew you were tired, and he also didn’t want you to take it the wrong way when he mentioned the nickname was because of his coworkers literally warning him about what he was doing. “Just know that you being my waterfall is a good thing.” 

You considered him for a moment, debating on if you wanted to argue back to try to get him to tell you the story. Finally, you decided against it. “Okay. As long as it’s good, I can live with that.” 

Eddie smiled and leaned forward to kiss your forehead gently. “It’s good. Now.” He turned to grab the remote. “What are we binging for the next few days?”


End file.
